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Japanese karatekas take lead on day 1 of #Karate1Fukuoka

2023-06-09

Japanese karatekas take lead on day 1 of #Karate1Fukuoka

The Karate 1-Premier League Fukuoka began Friday with local athletes leading the quest to the finals. Grand Winners Anzhelika Terliuga and Hikaru Ono were among the stars of the day.

GRAND WINNER ANZHELIKA TERLIUGA SHINES AGAIN

In a demonstration of domination of the category of Female Kumite -55kg, Grand Winner Anzhelika Terliuga of Ukraine aims at her second crown of the season of Karate 1-Premier League. The owner of the karategi with the golden embroidery beat Tsui-Ping Ku of Chinese Taipei in the semifinals 5-0.

 

The Grand Winner will fight for gold against Shiori Nakamura of Japan. The local hopeful defeated Germany’s Gizem Bugur 3-1.

 

HIKARU ONO VS MO SHEUNG GRACE LAU IN FEMALE KATA

The crown in Female Kata will go to either Hikaru Ono of Japan or Mo Sheung Grace Lau of Hong Kong. The two frontrunners qualified for the final after leading the competition and upsetting the rivals.


Ono who is the current Grand Winner of the category prevailed over favourite and two-time World champion Kiyou Shimizu in the semifinal with a tight result (43.10 both) that went to Ono for the tie-breaking criteria.

 

Meanwhile, Mo Sheung Grace Lau qualified for her third final of the season after beating Japan’s Mirisa Ohuchi, with scores of 42.90 to 41.80.

 

THREE FINALS FOR JAPAN

In addition to Nakamura and Ono’s qualification for the title-deciding bouts, the host nation of Japan celebrated a total of three finals today.

 

Hiromu Hashimoto made it to his first Karate 1-Premier League final after claiming a convincing 6-0 victory over Florian Haas of Germany in Male Kumite -60kg.  His rival for gold is Darkhan Timraliyev of Kazakhstan who beat Abdullah Shaaban of Kuwait 2-0.

SURPRISES IN FEMALE KUMITE -50KG

Favourites had a hard time succeeding today in Female Kumite -50kg. Spain’s Nadia Gomez Morales caused one of the biggest upsets of the day after beating Grand Winner Yorgelis Salazar of Venezuela in the semifinal 5-3.

 

Egypt’s Reem Ahmed Salama also surprised and defeated Yee Ting Tsang of Hong Kong by Hantei or decision 0-0 so to aim at her second gold of the year after taking the title at home in Cairo.


ALL JORDAN FINAL IN MALE KUMITE -67KG

The final of Male Kumite -67kg will have two representatives of Jordan fighting for gold. Olympian Abdel Rahman Almasatfa beat Kazakhstan’s Didar Amirali in the semifinals 3-1 while Afeef Ghaith upset Grand Winner Dionysios Xenos of Greece 9-3.

 

TURKIYE VS ITALY IN MALE KUMITE -75KG

Powerhouse nations of Turkiye and Italy also had reasons to celebrate today as the final of Male Kumite -75kg will see Turkiye’s Omer Faruk Yuruk and Italy’s Lorenzo Pietromarchi fighting for the crown.

 

The Turkish representative beat Quentin Mahauden of Belgium 6-5 while the Italian karateka defeated Ukraine’s Andrii Zaplitnyi 4-3.  

 

The Karate 1-Premier League Fukuoka is scheduled from June 9 to 11. The eliminations will be available LIVE on the WKF YouTube channel. Fans can follow the medal bouts exclusively on Fight Sports and a host of TV platforms around the world.

 

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2023 KARATE 1-PREMIER LEAGUE FUKUOKA