The 2023 Karate 1-Series A Jakarta concluded Sunday. Indonesian and Japanese karatekas were the big winners of the event as they finish the competition with three gold medals respectively.

JAPAN DOMINATE INDIVIDUAL KATA

The two gold medals in the individual Kata competition went to the birth nation of the sport. Saeko Azuma surprised favourite Emiri Iwamoto in the All-Japan final of Female Kata and took the title with an excellent presentation of “Chantanyara Kushanku” kata (scores of 26.74 to 25.68).

The title in Male Kata also went to Japan as Aoi Funada defeated Mohammad Hussain of Kuwait. The Japanese karateka took a score of 26.54 with “Chibana no Kushanku” kata by 25.8 of his rival.

Meanwhile, Indonesia celebrated the two crowns in Team Kata in the two All-Indonesia finals.

The Japanese delegation completed a deserving performance in Jakarta with one more title in Kumite. Rikito Shimada won the crown in Male Kumite -84kg following a convincing 5-0 triumph over teammate Yuta Mori.

INDONESIA FINISH EVENT WITH THREE GOLD MEDALS

The flag of the organising nation reached the top of the podium three times in Jakarta. In addition to the two titles in Team Kata, the host country celebrated the crown of Dessynta Rakawuni Banurea in Female Kumite +68kg. The local karateka defeated Hannah Sullivan of Australia with an impressive performance 8-0.

KAZAKHSTAN’S KARATEKAS CLAIM TWO TITLES

Representatives of Kazakhstan finished the event on a high note as they took home two gold medals. Assemgul Yerdaulet opened the gold medal count for the Asian powerhouse nation of the sport with a victory by 3-1 over teammate Gulmira Ussenova in the all-Kazakh final of Female Kumite -55kg.

The second title for Kazakhstan was claimed by Laura Alikul who beat Sara Deuble of Switzerland in the final of Female Kumite -68kg (3-0).

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA CELEBRATE TWO CROWNS

It was also a good day for the delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hamza Turulja won the first title for the European nation as he used the experience in his favour to defeat Mohamed Abudabous of Libya in the final of Male Kumite -75kg 4-0.

Rijad Dzuho won the second gold for Bosnia and Herzegovina after defeating Fumiya Yoshimura of Japan in the final of Male Kumite +84kg 5-0.

NEWCOMERS IMPRESS IN JAKARTA

The Karate 1-Series A Jakarta was marked by the golden performance of new names of the sport. Shahmalarani Chandran of Malaysia upset local karateka Annisa Nur Anngraini to win the crown in Female Kumite -50kg (5-2).

Meanwhile, Reem Khamis of Germany extended her impressive winning streak and took the title in Female Kumite -61kg after beating Nina Radjenovic of Switzerland (3-1).

The gold medal in Male Kumite -60kg went to Morocco. Promising Moroccan karateka Aymane Takzima defeated Daulet Shymyrbekov of Kazakhstan by an impressive 8-0.

In Male Kumite -67kg, Pranay Sharma became the first Indian karateka to win a Karate 1 title for the Asian country after edging Davyd Yanovski of Ukraine 3-2.

The season of Karate 1-Series A concluded in Jakarta with the fourth and final event of the year after the tournaments in Pamplona (Spain), Cairo (Egypt), and Kocaeli (Turkiye). The first Karate 1-Series A event of the new season will be held in Athens (Greece) from January 13 to 15, 2023.

Relive the live streaming of the medal bouts of the event on the WKF YouTube channel by CLICKING HERE.

Micro-site of the Karate 1-Series A Jakarta

(Pictures: Gökhan Taner)