(born September 30, 1991) is a Filipino-Japanese

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

ka. Representing the Philippines, she won the gold medal in the women's kumite 50kg event at the

2022 World Games The 2022 World Games were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines of Olympic sports and other competitions ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, United States.

Early life and education

Junna Tsukii was born in

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, i ...

, Philippines on September 30, 1991. She was born to Shin Tsukii, a Japanese coach, and Lilia Villanueva, a

Filipina Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or other ...

. Junna is the second eldest among three children. She moved to Japan when she was three years old. She went to a junior high school in

Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

She studied at

Takushoku University Takushoku University (拓殖大学; ''Takushoku Daigaku'', abbreviated as 拓大 ''Takudai'') is a private university in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1900 by Duke Taro Katsura (1848–1913).

in Tokyo, Japan. She would obtain a teacher's license for social studies and went back to her alma mater in Kansai to teach.

Career

Tsukii took up karate at age seven joining her own father's dojo in Japan. She would rise to become a national champion in Japan when she was on her second year in junior high school and selected to represent the country internationally. However she was hindered by serious injuries at age 17. She tried to return to the Japanese national team while recovering from injuries but she later decide to represent the Philippines in 2017. Representing the Philippines, Tsukii won one of the bronze medals in the women's kumite 50kg event at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

held in Jakarta, Indonesia. In her bronze medal match she defeated Paweena Raksachart of Thailand. In 2019, Tsukii won the gold medal in the women's kumite 50kg event at the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

held in the Philippines. In 2017, she won one of the bronze medals in this event at the

held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. That year, she also won one of the bronze medals in the team kumite event. In 2021, Tsukii won the gold medal in her event at the Karate 1-Premier League event held in Lisbon, Portugal. In June 2021, she competed at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Paris, France hoping to qualify for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo, Japan. She did not qualify as she was eliminated in her first match by Ivet Goranova of Bulgaria. In November 2021, Tsukii competed in the women's 50kg event at the

World Karate Championships The Karate World Championships, also known as the World Karate Championships, are the highest level of competition for karate organized by the World Karate Federation (WKF). The competition is held in a different city every two years. Championshi ...

held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She was eliminated in her second match. In December 2021, she won the silver medal in her event at the

Asian Karate Championships The Asian Karatedo Championships are the highest level of competition for sport karate in Asia. The competition is held in a different country every two years organized by the Asian Karatedo Federation (AKF) under the supervision of World Kara ...

held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Tsukii won the gold medal in the women's kumite 50kg event of the

held in Birmingham, United States. She defeated Yorgelis Salazar of Venezuela in her gold medal match. In 2023, Tsukii competed in the women's 50kg event at the

2022 Asian Games The 2022 Asian Games (), officially known as the 19th Asian Games (), also known as Hangzhou 2022, ( zh, c=杭州2022, p=Hángzhōu Èr líng èr èr), will be a multi-sport event celebrated in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Hangzhou will be the t ...

held in Hangzhou, China where she was eliminated in her first match. In the same month, she competed in the women's 50kg event at the

2023 World Karate Championships The 2023 World Karate Championships was held from 24 to 29 October 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. Iranian team's visa problems The visas of 21 Iranian karateka were not issued for various reasons. These karatekas were present in the men's kata an ...

held in Budapest, Hungary where she was eliminated in her second match.

Personal life

Tsukii cannot speak Tagalog well and learned English while she was in Japan but found her education on the language inadequate which initially made her doubt herself if she is fit to represent the Philippines. She would learn how to sing

Lupang Hinirang "" ("Chosen Land"), originally titled in Spanish as "" ("Philippine National March"), and commonly and informally known by its incipit "" ("Beloved Country"), is the national anthem of the Philippines. Its music was composed in 1898 by Julián ...

, the national anthem, when she first became a representative of the country to compensate for her lack of fluency in Tagalog. She also manages her own

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel where she holds karate web seminars.

Achievements

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsukii, Junna Living people 1991 births People from Pasay Filipino female karateka Japanese female karateka Karateka at the 2018 Asian Games Karateka at the 2022 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in karate Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines SEA Games gold medalists for the Philippines SEA Games silver medalists for the Philippines SEA Games bronze medalists for the Philippines SEA Games medalists in karate Competitors at the 2017 SEA Games Competitors at the 2019 SEA Games Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games Competitors at the 2023 SEA Games World Games gold medalists World Games medalists in karate Filipino people of Japanese descent Takushoku University alumni 21st-century Filipino women 21st-century Filipino people 21st-century Japanese women 21st-century Japanese people World Games medalists for the Philippines Medalists at the 2022 World Games