(born September 30, 1991) is a Filipino-Japanese mixed martial artist and former

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

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

2022 World Games The 2022 World Games, commonly known as Birmingham 2022, 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 ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, United States.

Early life and education

Junna Tsukii was born in

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 Philippine census, 2020 census, it has a ...

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

Filipina Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino, English, or other Philippine languages. Despite formerly being subject to ...

. 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 Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

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 Prince (title for a Duke at that time) Taro Katsura (1848–1913). She would obtain a teacher's license for social studies and went back to her alma mater in Kansai to teach.

Career

Karate

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 ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...

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, commonly known as 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 sup ...

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 officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

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 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 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 the 19th Asian Games () and also known as Hangzhou 2022 ( zh, c=, s=杭州2022, labels=no), were a continental multi-sport event which was held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, China. The ...

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 held in Budapest, Hungary where she was eliminated in her second match. In June 2024, Tsukii announced that she was retiring from karate and will be moving to MMA.

Mixed martial arts

After her retirement from karate in 2024, Tsukii would transition to

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

. Tsukii fought Ruka Sakamoto in the women's 54

kilogram The kilogram (also spelled kilogramme) is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand grams. It has the unit symbol kg. The word "kilogram" is formed from the combination of the metric prefix kilo- (m ...

category at the 2024 Deep Jewels Summer Festival in

Odaiba is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge (Tokyo), Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s. The land was dramatically expanded during the late 20th centur ...

, Japan on August 31.

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 learned how to sing ''

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

'', 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 an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel where she holds karate web seminars.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 1–1 , Kate Lotus , Submission (rear naked choke) , DEEP 122 Impact , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:01 ,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan , catchweight (50kg) , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Ruka Sakamoto , Submission (rear naked choke) , DEEP Summer Festival 2024 in Odaiba , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:11 ,

, Japan , catchweight (54kg) , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsukii, Junna Living people 1991 births People from Pasay Filipino female karateka Japanese female karateka Japanese female mixed martial artists Atomweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing karate Karateka at the 2018 Asian Games Karateka at the 2022 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games bronze 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 sportswomen 21st-century Japanese sportswomen World Games medalists for the Philippines Medalists at the 2022 World Games