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 →

Following the consultations with the different WKF stakeholders and the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Karate’s decision-making body today announced the provisional suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from all WKF events until further notice.

This resolution is taken after thorough exchanges with the WKF Athletes Commission and the WKF National Federations.

Aimed at preserving the integrity of competitions and ensuring the safety of all the participants, the ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials was decided today and will be effective immediately. These exceptional measures will be under constant evaluation as the WKF will continue to closely monitor the situation in Ukraine.

WKF President Antonio Espinós said:

“The Karate family is united in solidarity with everyone impacted by these terrible events. While we have no desire to penalise any athlete or official who has been affected by this war, our intention is to protect the whole Karate community as we keep the Karate values of respect, integrity, and honour at heart.

“Since we do not have international events scheduled in the near future, we committed ourselves to carefully reviewing all the different perspectives and positions to make the right decision in the best interest of our sport. We took the necessary steps to have the full support of the majority of the Karate community on this delicate issue.”

On behalf of the Karate family, the WKF hopes that peace will be restored as soon as possible.

The 2022 Karate 1-Premier League is introducing a new competition system. The Round Robin format will now be applied to the elimination rounds to further raise the competitive level of the tournaments.

With the introduction of the Round Robin, competitors have now the opportunity to progress even more as athletes.

The karatekas taking part in Karate 1-Premier League events will now fight a minimum number of bouts in the first stages of the competition. As the amount of bouts in each event is increased, competitors can now improve their sports performance at Karate’s biggest international tournaments.

Moreover, greater fairness to the competition is added as karatekas will have to show their skills in several bouts before reaching the final phases of the competition.

Seguis leyendo New Karate 1 Premier League: Round Robin system to take event to new competitive heights →

The Karate 1-Youth League Acapulco beings in one week. The event inaugurates the year of international Karate.

WHAT

• The 2022 Karate 1-Youth League Acapulco is the opening event of the season and the first out of the four tournaments of the year of the 2022 Karate 1-Youth League.
• The Karate 1-Youth League is designed to become a platform for the development of youngsters in their quest to progress in the sport.

WHERE

The event will take place in the idyllic city of Acapulco, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

• The competition will be held at the Expo Mundo Imperial sports hall.

WHEN

• The tournament is scheduled for January 21 to 23.
• The event begins on Friday, January 21 at 09:00 (local time) and is set to finish on Sunday, January 23 around 20.00 (local time).
• Finals are scheduled for each of the three competition days.

Seguis leyendo Karate 1 Youth League Acapulco to open thrilling year of Karate →