Filipino Canadian John Sawal surpassed his past performance and landed a respectable seventh place over the weekend at the conclusion of 2015 Germany Open Karate 1 Premier League held in Coburg, Germany.
Indeed a sterling performance for the 19-year-old lad to be in the top ten among 96 competitors from Europe and Senior Worlds.
The eldest among the brood of two, Sawal finished the tournament tied in 7th with Khai Truong of Sweden.
The product of Winston Churchill Secondary school started the competition on a bright note after blanking John Georgas of Australia, 5-0.
He followed it up with a 3-2 victory over Michal Toure of Slovakia, although he suffered a shut out at the hands of European World champ Daniel Quintero, 0-5, he quickly bounced back in the fourth round.
Sawal beat Jonas Glaser of host country, Germany, before bowing out against Man Cheng of Hong Kong, China.
He considers it an honour to be in the elite group of top athletes and to land in top ten out of 96 competitors was a complete satisfaction on his part.
“It’s no medal but this experience shines the brightest compared to all my medals, thus far. It has been extraordinary fighting against the top athletes of the world,” declares Sawal.
He added that he’s totally satisfied with his performance and still raring for more challenges to get much better results in his next outing.
Meanwhile, it was 1-3 finish for Germany after Ilja Smorguner pockets the gold while his compatriot Paul Baum took home the bronze together with Colombian David Felife Contreras.
