Powerhouse nation of Chile topped the final medal table of the 2023 PKF Senior Championships. The event was held in Costa Rica this week and crowned the new heroes of the sport in the Americas.

The last day of the competition put team categories and Para-Karate divisions in the spotlight.

The gold medal in Blind/Visually Impaired Male K10 went to Jose Roberto Gonzalez of Mexico who defeated Emerson Garcia Rocha of Brazil in the final.

In the Intellectually Impaired divisions, the two crowns in Female categories went to Canada as Patricia Wright won the title in K21 following a victory over Jamie Green of the United States and Natalie Olson followed suit in K22 with a triumph over Yenis Lanzas of Panama.

The gold medals in Intellectually Impaired Male were claimed by Cristian Reyes of Chile, who defeated Luis Yadani Loria of Costa Rica, and Kevin Rodriguez of the United States who beat Nicolas Vilches of Chile.

Meanwhile, representatives of Chile and Brazil won the crowns in Wheelchair K30. The female competition was taken by Darien Paula Ulloa of Chile who beat teammate Jocelyn Torres. In the male division, Jaime Ruiz of Brazil upset Diego Tomas Ojeda of Argentina.

The titles in the Team Kata divisions went to Brazil and Peru. In the female category, Brazil defeated Peru in the final while in the male competition the Peruvian squad came back and beat Brazil in the title-deciding clash.

Venezuela used their star line-up to claim the crown in Female Team Kumite. The Venezuelan squad defeated the United States in the final. In the Male category, Chile wrapped up their impressive performance with a well-deserved title over the United States.

Chile ended the event on top of the medal table with 15 medals, including seven golds. The United States and Brazil took second and third place with 12 and 9 medals respectively.

2023 PKF SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

(Pictures: Christian Cordero Salazar)