The ceremony was headed by WKF President Antonio Espinós and was held in Matosinhos after the celebration of the Karate 1-Premier League event in the Portuguese city. The two Karate Stars received the commemorative trophy and diploma that recognise them as the “Best of the Best” of the year in their respective categories.

Spain’s Damian Quintero won the Grand Winner award after leading the category of Male Kata in the last two editions of the Karate 1-Premier League. The current WKF World Ranking leader won medals in all five appearances in Karate 1-Premier League events in 2020 and 2021, including gold medals in the 2020 Karate 1-Premier League Dubai and the 2021 Karate 1-Premier League Istanbul.

Damian Quintero said:

“Being the Grand Winner is a big responsibility for me. Staying on top requires keeping a constant high level throughout the season. On the other hand, the Grand Winner award is very satisfying because it means that all our goals of the season were achieved and that our hard work paid off.”

Following the resolution of the EKF Executive Committee to cancel the 2023 EKF Senior Championships in Moscow (Russia) due to the conflict in Ukraine, European Karate’s decision-making body has agreed to award the Royal Spanish Karate Federation the organisation of next year’s edition of Europe’s biggest event.

Guadalajara already hosted the EKF Senior Championships in 2019. Spain have welcomed the event two more times in the last two decades as Tenerife was the venue of the tournament in 2005 and 2012.  

Seguis leyendo 2023 EKF Senior Championships to be held in Spain →

Phase 1 of the registration process for the 2022 Karate 1-Premier League Rabat has started now as the official bulletin of the event has been issued.

Until March 20, National Federations can register athletes who are placed between positions 1 and 32 of the WKF World Ranking. The second week of phase 1 of the registration (March 21 to 28) is open to all the athletes who take the top 32 places in the WKF ranking.

The second phase of the registration for Karate 1-Premier League Rabat begins on March 29. Athletes ranked between positions 33 and 64 will have the opportunity to sign up for the event provided that there are vacancies in the different categories.

Registration will conclude with phase 3, scheduled from April 13 to 28 and available to athletes in positions 65 and 100 for the categories still with vacancies.

The 2022 Karate 1-Premier League Rabat will be held from May 13 to 15. One of the flagship events of the year, the tournament returns to the international scene after two years of absence due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The last edition of the Karate 1-Premier League Rabat was held in 2019. Over 500 competitors from 75 countries participated in the event.

CLICK HERE to find all the info on the 2022 Karate 1-Premier League Rabat.

Following the decision of the WKF Executive Committee, Refugee athletes can now register to participate at Karate 1-Premier League and Karate 1-Series A events. The Refugee athletes will compete under the WKF flag and under the same conditions as their participation at the World Championships.

Refugee athletes have participated in Karate Senior World Championships since 2016. Brothers Mohammad and Mohannad Al Ali represented the Refugee squad in the 2016 World Championships in Linz, while Amir Khani and Wael Shueb formed the Refugee athletes at the 2018 World Championships in Madrid.

The last edition of Karate’s biggest event last year in Dubai had Hammon Derafshipour and Amir Khani as members of the Refugee Team.

Additionally, the Karate competition at the Olympic Games in Tokyo was highlighted by the participation of two refugees, being Karate one of the disciplines with greater representation of Refugee athletes at the Games. Hamoon Derafshipour and Wael Shueb were the karatekas who competed as members of the Olympic refugee team in Tokyo. 

REFUGEES TO PARTICIPATE IN EKF CHAMPIONSHIPS

The decision of the WKF Executive Committee completes the ratification of the decision-making body of the European Karate Federation. The EKF Executive Committee decided to allow the participation of Refugee athletes at the EKF Championships.

Following this resolution, one Refugee athlete per category will be granted participation at European Karate’s biggest event. Open to Senior and U21 divisions, Refugee athletes will compete under the EKF flag. It is the first time that Refugee athletes will participate as such at EKF’s events.  

The World Karate Federation today announced the full list of competitors to participate in the Karate competition of The World Games 2022.

No less than 96 karatekas from all five continents will take part in the 2022 edition of The World Games. A host of World Champions, Olympians and Karate Stars are set to capture the attention of fans at the anticipated multi-sport event.

Athletes such as Ryo Kiyuna of Japan, Douglas Brose of Brazil, and Steven Dacosta of France, in male categories, and Sandra Sanchez of Spain, Jovana Prekovic of Serbia, and Irina Zaretska of Azerbaijan, in female divisions, are among the World champions who aim at winning the double crown World Championships-The World Games.

Seguis leyendo List of participants to The World Games 2022 confirmed →