The future stars of Karate took the spotlight in the 2016 FISU World University Karate Championship being held in Braga (Portugal) as the tournament reached the final stages of the competition. After three action-packed days, the championship crowned some of the upcoming figures of the sport.

The future stars of Karate took the spotlight in the 2016 FISU World University Karate Championship being held in Braga (Portugal) as the tournament reached the final stages of the competition. After three action-packed days, the championship crowned some of the upcoming figures of the sport.

In women's categories, favourites cruised to the top of the podium with outstanding demonstrations of high-class Karate. The Female Kumite -68kg was one big highlight of the event, as two of the top contenders of the category met in the final. World champion Alizee Agier from France clashed with European runner-up Alisa Buchinger from Switzerland in an anticipated bout to be likely repeated in the upcoming World Championships in Linz. French ace took gold in a nail-biting ending thus earning her second medal this season following her bronze in Karate 1-Premier League in Paris.

Karate Star Giana Lotfy also demonstrated her domination in Female Kumite -61kg and claimed gold after beating Natasha Stefanovska from FYR of Macedonia in the final. The Egyptian heroine added another medal to her tally and stands as one of the front-runners of the category.



In Female Kata, Japan's Misaki Tanaka stunned Pan American champion Sakura Kokumai from USA to claim her first big triumph in major international competitions so to earn the condition of one of the surprises of the competition.

France's Emily Thouy claimed the second gold medal for her country in women's competition following her victory over FYR of Macedonia's Simona Zaborska in Female Kumite -55kg, while Japan's Natsumi Kawamura also completed the successful performance of the Asian country in the tournament with her victory over Turkey's Meltem Hocaoglu in Female Kumite 68+kg. The third medal for Japanese female Karatekas was silver in Female Kumite -50kg, since Miho Miyahara was upset by Spain rising figure Rocio Sanchez.

Egyptian and Japanese Karatekas take the spotlight in Men's categories

As the competition heads to the last day of tournament, Japanese delegation took the route to the top of the final standings of the event with two more medals in men's competition. Hiroki Kubo completed Japan's domination in Kata with his victory over Morocco's Mohammed El Hanni, while Ken Nishimura claimed silver in Male Kumite -75kg after being defeated by Egypt's Ali Elsawy.

The victory of young Egyptian Karateka was one of the successful moments for the Egyptian delegation in their quest to the provisional second position of the medal table. Mohamed Elkotby also claimed gold for Egypt in Male Kumite -84kg, while Aly Ismail reached silver in Male Kumite -60kg after being upset by Spain's Matias Gomez.



France's Steven Da Costa confirmed the predictions and reached the top of the podium in Male Kumite -67kg following his victory over Austria's Stefan Pokorny in other of the anticipated bouts in men's categories. Following his victory in 2016 European Championships, the French Karateka added gold in Portugal to his triumph in Montpellier and silver medals in Karate 1-Premier League in Rotterdam and in EKF Junior, Cadet and U21 Championships, thus stating his condition of promising figure of the sport. In Male Kumite +84kg, Montenegro's Ljubisa Mihailovic beat Russia's Arsen Megrabian in a convincing victory.

The event ends on Saturday with the team competitions, thus wrapping up a memorable event in UMinho Sports Hall in Gualtar.

Click here for more information and results or visit the official website of the tournament.

Click here to watch the event live on streaming.