Sunday, November 5th, 2023.- Karate is in its final hours at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, with the female's -68kg tournament taking place at the Centro de Deportes de Contacto at the Estadio Nacional, where one of the favorites advanced to the semifinals.

We're talking about American Skylar Lingl, currently ranked 14th in the world in her category and the highest-ranked athlete at these Pan American Games. She managed to recover from a difficult start in the group stage to qualify for the final four and compete for a medal.

Lingl lost her debut match 5-2 to Colombian Wendy Mosquera. However, she later defeated Peruvian Sol Cabrera and Chilean Anastasiia Velozo, finishing second in her group behind Mosquera, who won all her matches.

The semifinals will begin at 12:52 p.m., with Lingl facing Brazilian Barbara Rodrigues (currently ranked 49th in the world), and Mosquera competing against Mexican Pamela Campos.

It's worth mentioning that the United States has a good chance of matching Chile in the karate medal tally with three gold medals in this event, while Colombia and Brazil are seeking their first gold medals. Mexico, on the other hand, already has one gold in this discipline.

Written by Patricio Echagüe; translated by Pía Barriga / Photosport
Photo by Juan Carlos Romo/ Santiago 2023 / Photosport