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Local athletes and Elena Qurici among big winners of Day 2 of #Karate1Fukuoka

2023-06-10

Local athletes and Elena Qurici among big winners of Day 2 of #Karate1Fukuoka

Olympian Elena Quirici, Grand Winner Ayaka Saito and the Japanese delegation took the spotlight on day 2 of the 2023 Karate 1-Premier League Fukuoka.

ELENA QUIRICI MAKES IT TO NEW FINAL

Switzerland’s Elena Quirici took a key step to winning the Grand Winner award after qualifying for the final of Female Kumite -68kg. The number 2 in WKF Ranking edged Venera Zhaxybayeva of Kazakhstan 1-0 and made it to her third Karate 1-Premier League final of the season.


The other side of the tatami is taken by Japan’s Tsubasa Kama who surprised favourites and defeated Laura Alikul of Kazakhstan 6-5 in the semifinals.  

ALL JAPAN FINAL IN MALE KATA

The representatives of the host nation prevailed in Male Kata as two competitors of the organising country will clash for the gold medal.


Ryonosuke Kikuchi
produced one of the biggest upsets of the day and qualified for his first final of Karate 1-Premier League after defeating Olympian Ariel Torres of the United States, with scores of 44.10 to 43.60.


The other spot in the final is taken by Kazumasa Moto who aims at his first gold of the season following a triumph over teammate and Grand Winner Kakeru Nishimaya (42.70 to 42.00)

 

THREE MORE FINALS FOR JAPAN


The Japanese delegation added one more place in the title-deciding bouts of Sunday with Sarara Shimada’s surprising performance in Female Kumite -61kg. The promising karateka from Japan upset teammate Maya Suzuki in the semifinals 1-0 to make it to her first final of the Karate 1-Premier League.


Shimada will clash for gold against Reem Khamis of Germany who edged Anita Serogina of Ukraine 1-0.

 

The final of Female Kumite +68kg will be an All-Japan affair as well. Yuzuki Sawae and Ayaka Saito will make sure that the gold medal in the category stays at home after winning their semifinals.

 

Sawae beat Olympian Sofya Berultseva of Kazakhstan 3-0, while Grand Winner Saito upset World champion Maria Torres of Spain 4-2.

 

CROATIA AGAINST JORDAN IN MALE KUMITE -84KG

After taking two final spots on day 1 of the competition, the delegation of Jordan claimed another qualification to the last day in Male Kumite -84kg. Mohammad Aljafari reached the final of the category after taking a convincing 6-0 victory over Junya Eto of Japan.


Ivan Kvesic
of Croatia completed the final in the category following his 3-2 triumph over Brian Timmermans of The Netherlands.

 

FRONTRUNNERS CLASH FOR GOLD IN MALE KUMITE +84KG

The final of Male Kumite +84kg will have Babacar Seck Sakho of Spain and Ryzvan Talibov of Ukraine fighting for the crown.

The Spanish karateka who is number 2 in the WKF World ranking beat Ahmed Elmasry of Egypt 2-0 while the Ukrainian karateka defeated Nikolai Sekot of Germany 2-0.

 

Fans can follow the medal bouts exclusively on Fight Sports and fightsportsmax.tv and a host of TV platforms around the world.

 

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2023 KARATE 1-PREMIER LEAGUE FUKUOKA