The second day of the competition of the 2023 Karate 1-Series A Konya had representatives of the organising nation taking the spotlight of the action.

Hosts of Turkiye celebrated four qualifications to the finals today. Omer Faruk Ates reached the last bout in Male Kumite -60kg following a victory by “Hantei” or decision over teammate Burak Ozdemir. His rival in the final is Carmine Luciano of Italy who defeated Saud Albasher of Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, in Male Kumite -67kg, Enes Fatih Kurt took the flag of the organising nation to the final day after claiming an outstanding 10-1 triumph over Rafael Duarte of Portugal. The final of the category will have former World champion Amir Mehdizadeh taking the other spot following a convincing 6-0 victory over teammate Abdollah Valadi.

The third final for Turkiye was claimed by Gulbahar Gozutok in Female Kumite -61kg. The local hopeful defeated Zahra Alizadeh of Iran in the semi-finals by an impressive 9-1. The other side of the tatami in the final will be taken by Viktoriya Vashchyshyn of Ukraine who prevented an All-Turkiye final (8-0 over Turkiye’s Nurbade Buber).  

The final Turkiye vs Iran in Female Team Kata completed the list of title-deciding bouts for the host country.

Powerhouse nations of the sport also prevailed on day 2 of #Karate1Konya. Bella Samasheva of Kazakhstan qualified for the final of Female Kumite -55kg following a slim 2-1 victory over Tsui-Ping Ku of Chinese Taipei. She will fight for gold against Nejra Sipovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina who beat Gulsen Demirturk of Turkiye 8-5.  

As it happened with Female Kata, the category of Male Kata was dominated by the representatives of the birth nation of the sport. The final of the division will see two competitors of Japan fighting for gold. Ryonosuke Kikuchi qualified for the final bout after topping the pool with a score of 42.5 with “Anan Dai” kata while teammate Kai Akato reached the final after getting a score of 41.2 with “Unsu” kata.

Newcomers also had time to shine in Konya. The final of Female Kumite -50kg will see Olha Vasylenko of Ukraine and Gabriella Izaguirre of El Salvador clashing for gold. It will be the first final in Senior competitions for both athletes. Vasylenko made it to the final after beating Malika Abzhanova of Kazakhstan 4-1 as Izaguirre upset Sevil Bas of Turkiye 9-1 to reach the title-deciding bout.

The tournament concludes Sunday with the medal bouts. All the action of the final day will be available LIVE on the WKF YouTube channel.

2023 KARATE 1-SERIES A KONYA

(picture: @Karateturk)