Delegates at the WKF Extraordinary Congress heard presentations and took decisions on an exciting future for Karate, as the sport explores new territories including the debut of the modality on the sports programme of the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. 

Delegates at the WKF Extraordinary Congress heard presentations and took decisions on an exciting future for Karate, as the sport explores new territories including the debut of the modality on the sports programme of the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. 

“The development of Karate has never reached such high levels. We are experiencing a great moment for Karate and the progress of our sport is as outstanding as ever before,” said WKF President Antonio Espinos. “However, as you know, my task is not to be complacent but to put a focus on the areas in which we can continue growing,” added the head of the World Karate Federation in the opening of the Congress being held in Tenerife (Spain).

Delegates from 95 national federations gathered at the WKF Extraordinary Congress celebrated in the city of the Canary Islands on the score of the 2017 World Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships. The plenary session of the international Karate organisation hailed the exciting future for the sport.  

“Only a few years later after the celebration of the Congress in Bremen (Germany), no one could imagine that in just three years we could achieve such a level of success. Let’s keep improving and working hard. If we continue working as hard as we are doing now, we will leave a memorable legacy to future generations and we will able to keep taking our sport to new levels,” said Mr. Espinós. 

TAKING STEPS TO KARATE’S OLYMPIC DEBUT

Among the various items on the schedule, reports on the qualification system and several issues regarding Karate’s debut in Buenos Aires 2018 and Tokyo 2020 were presented. As a result of the new landscape of Karate as an Olympic sport, the Olympic Solidarity programme was introduced to national federations. Also, membership issues were reviewed and the WKF ranking reports were analysed.

Following the initial decision by WKF Executive Committee, the Congress decided to give WKF honorary membership to IOC member and Japan National Olympic Committee president Tsunekazu Takeda. This decision was taken by acclamation by the plenary session, and it showed the appreciation of Karate to the cooperation and affection received by Mr. Takeda. 

The 2018 Karate 1 was also introduced. The modernization of Karate’s flagship event and many subsequent innovations were introduced. The new edition of the first-class series of events will have seven tournaments for the 2018 Karate 1-Premier League, while the Karate 1-Series A will be formed by four events. Next year will see the launching of a new format of competition, Karate 1-Youth League. The newly created tournament is directed to Under 14, Junior and Cadet categories and it will have four events next year.  

The 2018 World Championships were also presented. The 24th edition of Karate’s top event will be celebrated in November 2018 in Madrid (Spain). The tournament is set to become one of the biggest Karate events in the history of the sport. 

The Congress also approved the 2018 competition calendar. A year full of thrilling events and plenty of opportunities to showcase Karate’s showmanship await to fans of the sport around the world.