The Karate competition of The World Games concluded Saturday with the final day of action from Birmingham. In a thrilling showcase of the many values of the sport, new Karate heroes Anita Serogina of Ukraine, Abdalla Abdelaziz of Egypt, Silvia Semeraro of Italy, Youssef Badawy of Egypt, Sofya Berultseva of Kazakhstan, and Babacar Seck Sakho of Spain were crowned today.

ANITA SEROGINA STRIKES BACK

The final of Female Kumite -61kg was a repetition of the title-deciding bout from 2017 with both Alexandra Grande of Peru and Anita Serogina of Ukraine fighting for gold. At the event in Poland, the victory went to Peru but this time, Serogina avenged her defeat five years ago as she claimed a hard-fought victory 3-2.

Serogina was down on the scoreboard but managed to strike a final point to win her first crown of The World Games.  

Seguis leyendo New Karate heroes crowned at The World Games 2022 →

The massive tournament gathered over 1800 youngsters from 52 countries and was a true celebration of the popularity of the sport in young ages.

No less than nine delegations went home with gold medals in Cadet categories, with Ukrainian representatives dominating the competition with two titles. Nazarii Prannychuk in Cadet Kumite Male -57kg and Dariia Bulai in Cadet Kumite Female +54kg took the crowns for Ukraine.

The list of gold medallists in cadet divisions was completed with Mai-Linh Bui of France in Cadet Kata Female, Nicolas Modi of Romania in Cadet Kata Male, Ili Hellen of Germany in Cadet Kumite Female -47kg, Jovana Damjanovic of Montenegro in Cadet Kumite Female -54kg, Alexandr Capmoale of Moldova in Cadet Kumite Male -52kg, Nurakhat Sattursyn of Kazakhstan in Cadet Kumite Male -63kg, Sven Strahija of Croatia in Cadet Kumite Male -70kg, and Omar Metwaly of Egypt in Cadet Kumite +70kg.

Meanwhile, the Junior division was dominated by Egypt with four golds. The African powerhouse nation of the sport prevailed in junior categories with the titles claimed by Aya Damany in Junior Kumite Female -53kg, Mahmoud Elhsn in Junior Kumite Male -68kg, Youssef Farag in Junior Kumite Male -76kg, and Omar Osman in Junior Kumite Male +76kg.

Hosts of Croatia also registered a deserving performance in Junior competition with two golds, which were taken by Nikolina Golombos in Junior Kumite Female +59kg, and Matija Nasteski in Junior Kumite Male -61kg.

The rest of the titles in Junior competition went to Isra Celo of Austria in Junior Kata Female, Anthony Vu of Sweden in Junior Kata Male, Emma Coletti of Italy in Junior Kumite Female -48kg, Emina Sipovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Junior Kumite Female -59kg, and Kirill Moskvichyov of Kazakhstan in Junior Kumite Male -55kg.

In U14 categories, the big winners were the representatives of Montenegro and France with two golds each. Sasa Petric in U14 Kata Male, and Una Rakovic in U14 Kumite Female -47kg were the gold medallists for Montenegro while Morgane Scarfone in U14 Kumite Female +47kg, and Lenny Malcoiffe in U14 Kumite Female +55kg took the titles for France.

Karatekas from another six countries went home with gold medals in U14 divisions. Tamara Lehner of Austria won the crown in U14 Kata Female, while Adrianna Meller of Poland in U14 Kumite Female -42kg, Andreas Konradowski of Belgium in U14 Kumite Male -40kg, Christian Dan of Italy in U14 Kumite Male -45kg, Filip Hornak of the Czech Republic in U14 Kumite Male -50kg, and Martin Kvasnica in U14 Junior Kumite Male -55kg complete the list of medallists in Kumite.

The Karate 1-Youth League moves now to Venice (Italy) where the final event of the year will be held from December 9 to 11.

CLICK HERE to go the micro-site of the Karate 1-Youth League Porec.

As the Karate competition at The World Games 2022 is about to start, the final list of participants has been confirmed. No less than 32 Olympians will compete in Birmingham including two gold medallists. The event will also have eight World champions fighting for the crowns.

In Kata categories, Olympic Games gold medallist and World champion Sandra Sanchez of Spain spearheads the list of frontrunners.

Olympic Games medallists Damian Quintero of Spain and Mo Sheung Grace Lau of Hong Kong are also hoping to cause a sensation in Birmingham.

World champions Douglas Brose of Brazil, Dastonbek Otabolaev of Kazakhstan, and Youssef Badawy of Egypt lead the way in Male Kumite.

The male categories in the fighting discipline of Karate also have Olympic Games medallists Darkhan Assadilov of Kazakhstan, Karoly Gabor Harspataki of Hungary, and Stanislav Horuna of Ukraine as favourites.  

Meanwhile, in Female Kumite, the quest for gold is expected to be thrilling with many of the biggest names of the sport participating in the event.

Seguis leyendo Karate ready to take The World Games by storm as final list of participants confirmed →

Karate will be returning to the sports programme of the Games of the Small States of Europe for the 2025 edition of the event.

The General Assembly of the Small States of Europe approved the list of sports to be included in the programme of the 2025 Games in Andorra. Following this decision, Karate is returning to the programme of the event after not being included in the 2023 Games to be held in Malta.

Karate was set to make its debut in the Games of the Small States of Europe in the 2021 edition of the event which was initially slated to be held in Andorra. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the whole long-term schedule of the Games of the Small States of Europe was reconsidered, and the Games in Andorra were moved to 2025, with the 2023 event being held in Malta.

The decision of the General Assembly puts Karate in the programme of the event thus reconfirming Karate’s presence in all the multi-sport continental events.

EKF and WKF President Antonio Espinós said:

“Karate is one of the most well-known and most widely practised disciplines in the world. We believe that our sport deserves to be included in all the multi-sport events in the world. Moreover, we are convinced that the many principles of Karate, such as respect, honour and sporting spirit elevate the value of these events. We are delighted that karatekas from all the small states of Europe will find the opportunity to demonstrate the greatness of Karate in the 2025 Games.”

“I would like to thank the Small States of Europe Karate Federation and its president Andreas Vasileiou and the President of the Andorra Karate Federation Xavier Herver for their efforts to reconfirm Karate’s presence in the programme of the 2025 Games of the Small States of Europe.”

Karate is one of the sports on the programme of the anticipated event in Bali. The discipline, with its modality of Kata, returns to the multi-sport event after the success of the first edition of the ANOC World Beach Games in 2019.

More than 1,200 athletes from 97 NOCs competed at Qatar 2019 and similar global participation will be expected next year in Bali. The Games will be a celebration of beach and water sports and will include the ten disciplines of the Core Programme – Aquathlon, Beach Handball, Beach Soccer, Beach Tennis, Beach Volley 4×4, Beach Water polo, Beach Wrestling, Individual Kata, Expression Kiteboarding and Open Water Swimming 5km– as well as additional disciplines proposed by the Organising Committee, to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Damian Quintero and Sandra Sanchez of Spain became the first-ever gold medallists in Beach Kata after prevailing in the ANOC World Beach Games 2019. Fatemeh Sadeghi of Iran and Yi Wang from Chinese Taipei claimed the silver medals at the event.

WKF President Antonio Espinós said: 

“Karate showed its outstanding sporting spirit and its excellence at the inaugural edition of the ANOC World Beach Games in Qatar. We are delighted to be part of this fantastic event again and we are convinced that the 2023 ANOC World Beach Games in Bali will be a sound success. The event in Bali will be one of the highlights of the year and we can’t wait to continue bringing great added value to this anticipated multi-sport event”.

CLICK HERE to go to the 2023 ANOC World Beach Games micro-site.