Tokyo 2020

WKF announces first qualified athletes for Tokyo 2020

The World Karate Federation has announced the first Karate athletes who have earned the qualification for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.  

Due to the cancellation of the last qualifying tournaments because of the coronavirus outbreak, the first stage of the Olympic qualification pathway has been finalised. The four highest-ranked athletes per gender and Olympic event claim the 32 places allocated by standings. Additionally, the WKF has also confirmed the Japanese athletes who take the host nation quota in each one of the Olympic categories.

The qualified athletes in alphabetical order are:

Male Categories Qualified Athletes	Female Categories Qualified Athletes
Male Kata Mattia Busato (ITA) Antonio Diaz (VEN) Ryo Kiyuna (JPN) Damian Quintero (ESP) Ali Sofuoglu (TUR)	Female Kata Viviana Bottaro (ITA) Sakura Kokumai (USA) Mo Sheung Grace Lau (HKG) Sandra Sanchez (ESP) Kiyou Shimizu (JPN)
Male Kumite -67kg Darkhan Assadilov (KAZ) Angelo Crescenzo (ITA) Steven Dacosta (FRA) Vinicius Figueira (BRA) Naoto Sago (JPN)	Female Kumite -55kg Sara Bahmanyar (IRI) Miho Miyahara (JPN) Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu (TUR) Anzhelika Terliuga (UKR) Tzu-Yun Wen (TPE)
Male Kumite -75kg Rafael Aghayev (AZE) Bahman Asgari Ghoncheh (IRI) Luigi Busa (ITA) Stanislav Horuna (UKR) Ken Nishimura (JPN)	Male Kumite -61kg Merve Coban (TUR) Giana Lotfy (EGY) Jovana Prekovic (SRB) Mayumi Someya (JPN) Xiaoyan Yin (CHN)
Male Kumite +75kg Ugur Aktas (TUR) Ryutaro Araga (JPN) Sajad Ganjzadeh (IRI) Jonathan Horne (GER) Ivan Kvesic (CRO)	Female Kumite +61kg Hamideh Abbasali (IRI) Meltem Hocaouglu (TUR) Elena Quirici (SUI) Ayumi Uekusa (JPN) Irina Zaretska (AZE)

The Olympic qualification process continues now to allocate the rest of the places to complete the final list of 80 karatekas to participate in Tokyo 2020. No less than 24 athletes will earn the Olympic ticket at the qualification tournament to be held in Paris (France). Additionally, 12 athletes will get the berth for the Olympic Games by continental representation and up to four karatekas will take the Olympic ticket by the Tripartite Commission invitation places.

Information about the major updates and the challenges related to the qualifying events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

WKF would like to inform you about the major updates in light of the ongoing developments around coronavirus and the challenges related to the last qualifying events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

A. Madrid Premier League (PL) will be the substitution event of the cancelled PL in Rabat (for the Olympic Standing) Cancell

B. European Senior Championships in Baku Cancell

C. Qualification Tournament (QT) in Paris Postponed new date coming.

After the recent news received by IOC about the postponement of the Olympic Games until latest summer 2021 (already shared with all of you), we hereby inform you that the WKF postpones the Qualification Tournament now scheduled for June 2020 and we will work on the most appropriate dates for the Qualification Tournament as soon as the precise new dates of the Olympic Games are confirmed. The WKF Olympic Planning Commission is in permanent contact and will have next Monday a first telematic meeting to deal on this and other issues to report to the WKF Executive Committee.

Trusting in your cooperation in these challenging times, the WKF remains committed to the health and well-being of its athletes and overall Karate family, whilst working restlessly towards a successful participation of our sport in the Tokyo Olympic Games.

WKF

Qualification event in Paris to Tokyo 2020

BULLETIN

About Olimpic Games – Tokyo 2020

Official WKF Tokyo 2020 Standings

Karate included in sports programme of Youth Olympic games Dakar 2022

Results ANOC Beach Games 2019 – Karate Competition

European Olympic committees and World karate Federation enhance cooperation

WKF and EKF President Antonio Espinós met with the President of the European Olympic Committees Janez Kocijančič to enhance the cooperation between the two organisations and to analyse the progress of Karate in Europe. 

Mr Kocijančič welcomed Mr Espinós in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Discussions focused on the collaboration between the two organisations and the commitment of the European Karate Federation to EOC’s flagship event.

Karate has been part of the sports programme of both European Games, Baku 2015 and Minsk 2019. Both leaders showed willingness to see the sport at future European Games edition in Krakow & Malopolska 2023.

“We wish to continue the good cooperation with WKF,” Kocijančič stated. “Karate was one of the most popular sports at Minsk 2019, as competitions were first-class and the number of participating athletes very high. Figures on social media showed that the sport was very attractive to the audience.”

“It was a pleasure to sit down with Mr Kocijančič and discuss further opportunities to increase the cooperation of our two organisations. We are proud to be an active partner of EOC, and we are pleased to have contributed to the success of the two editions of the European Games. The last European Games in Minsk were a perfect example of the strength of sporting events in the continent. We hope that we can continue supporting EOC’s goals and to further provide an added value to the development of sports in Europe,” said EKF and WKF President Antonio Espinós. WKF