Grand Winners award postponed to 2021

The World Karate Federation announced today that the Grand Winners award has been postponed to 2021. The Grand Winners award recognises the best of the best of the season in Karate 1-Premier League. As a result of the cancellation of events due to the coronavirus pandemic, the proclamation of the top competitors of the year in Karate’s first-class series of events is delayed to 2021.

The World Karate Federation announced today that the Grand Winners award has been postponed to 2021. The Grand Winners award recognises the best of the best of the season in Karate 1-Premier League. As a result of the cancellation of events due to the coronavirus pandemic, the proclamation of the top competitors of the year in Karate’s first-class series of events is delayed to 2021.

Only three Karate 1-Premier League tournaments have been held to date in 2020 amid the current COVID-19 pandemic. Following the cancellation of the events in Rabat and Madrid, and the postponement of the tournament in Moscow, the World Karate Federation has decided to hold off the designation of the Grand Winners until next year. Therefore, The two seasons 2020 and 2021 will be merged into one, in order to proclaim the best of the best of the joint 2020-2021 Karate 1-Premier League.

The Grand Winner award will go to the competitors finishing on top of the 2020-2021 Karate 1-Premier League standings in each one of the 12 categories at stake.

Additionally, the WKF has agreed to accumulate the prize money of the two seasons, so the new Grand Winners will receive double the amount in prize money, together with the trophy to be delivered at a special ceremony. The crowning of the 2020-2021 Grand Winners is tentatively scheduled for the last event of 2021 (Moscow) or the first event of 2022 (to be decided).

“We believe that the postponement of the proclamation of the Grand Winners award to 2021 represents the best decision to safeguard the athletes’ interest, the notoriety of the award, and the reputation of our organisation,” said the WKF in a statement.

WKF