Japan confirmed their domination of Asian Karate after topping the final standings of the 2018 AKF Senior Karate Championships. As the successful event finished in Amman (Jordan) on Sunday, the Japanese delegation took the first place of the medal table with a tally of eleven medals and eight golds. 

Japan confirmed their domination of Asian Karate after topping the final standings of the 2018 AKF Senior Karate Championships. As the successful event finished in Amman (Jordan) on Sunday, the Japanese delegation took the first place of the medal table with a tally of eleven medals and eight golds. 

After prevailing in the Kata competition, taking all four gold medals at stake, and claiming three more top awards in Kumite, Japan wrapped up their outstanding performance winning the Female Team Kumite competition. The Japanese side headed by Grand Winner Ayumi Uekusa and formed with Kayo Someya, Ayaka Saito and Natsumi Kawamura defeated Kazhakstan by 2-0 in the last bout of the tournament. 

The final day of Karate action in Amman which was devoted to the team competition also had Iran as big winners. The Iranian delegation completed a remarkable tournament taking the second spot of the medal table and claiming a final tally of eight medals and four golds. After the triumphs by Hammideh Abbasa in female competition, and Niadeilami Majid Hassan and Saleh Abazari in Male Kumite, the representatives of the powerhouse nation of the sport finished the event on a high note reaching the top of the podium in Male Team Kumite. 

The Iranian side had Grand Winner Sajad Ganjzadeh as the leader and was composed by gold medallist Saleh Abazari, Bahman Asagari Ghoncheh, Keyvan Baban, Saman Heydari, Mahdi Khodabakhshi and Zabiollah Poorshab defeated Saudi Arabia in the final by 3-0, thus extending their domination of the category. The Iranian Male Kumite Team, current world champions of the category, has taken the continental crown in the last two editions of the Asian Championships and appears as top front-runners for the World Championships in Madrid. 

The 15th edition of the AKF Senior Championships concluded in Amman with a celebration of the sport. The event was the first tournament included in the Olympic qualification process and it crowned some of the biggest Karate stars in Asia such as Kiyou Shimizu (JPN), Ryo Kiyuna (JPN), Xiaoyan Yin (CHN), Ryutaro Araga (JPN) and Saleh Abazari (IRI) among many others.    

(Pictures: © Servolle Xavier / AKF)