The Karate 1-Series A Santiago started with a thrilling opening day. New names surprised favourites in some of the categories at stake while top competitors such as Serap Ozcelik, Giana Lotfy or Anzhelika Terliuga demonstrated their prominence. 

The Karate 1-Series A Santiago started with a thrilling opening day. New names surprised favourites in some of the categories at stake while top competitors such as Serap Ozcelik, Giana Lotfy or Anzhelika Terliuga demonstrated their prominence in the first day of Karate action in Chile. 

Serap Ozcelik of Turkey took the spotlight in day 1 as the Grand Winner of the category made it to his sixth final in nine events this year thus confirming her front-runner status in the category. The karateka who leads the WKF World ranking beat Ayaka Tadano of Japan in semi-finals by 5-0 and will fight for gold against Yorgelis Salazar of Venezuela. The Venezuelan karateka surprised favourites and will compete in her first-ever final on major senior events following an impressive 9-0 victory over Junna Tsukii of Philippines in semi-finals. 

Giana Lotfy of Egypt was also one of the big names of the day since the two-time World champion made it to her third consecutive final in Female Kumite -61kg. The Egyptian karateka who won gold at the continental championships reached the final by “Hantei” or decision over Canada’s Haya Jumma in semi-finals 0-0. In a showcase of the confrontation of favourites against new names that marked day 1 of Karate 1-Series A Santiago, her rival in the final is Anna Rodina of Russia who had never reached the last day of competition in senior events. The promising Russian karateka edged China’s Xiaoling Zhang in semi-finals 2-2. 

NEW NAMES SURPRISE IN DAY 1

Japan continued its domination in Kata categories as representatives of the birth nation of the sport took the two the top spots in the final of Male Kata. Ryonosuke Kikuchi surprised and qualified for his first title-deciding bout in major events after dominating the last pool with “Anan Dai” kata and a score of 24.26. Meanwhile, Kakeru Nishiyama who won silver in the last Karate 1-Series A event in Montreal reached again the final after topping the pool with “Papuren” kata and a score of 26.48. 

French karatekas also shined in the opening day of competition. The final of Male Kumite +84kg will be an All-France clash since the representatives of the European powerhouse nation of the sport cleaned sweep the final spots. It will be the first title-deciding bout for both Salim Bendiab and Dnylson Jacquet who shocked favourites of the category. Bendiab defeated Giovani Felipin Salgado of Brazil in semi-finals by 7-0 while Jacquet beat Franklin Mina of Ecuador by 2-0. 

FAVOURITES ALSO LEAVE THEIR MARK

One of the categories in which the favourites did prevail was Female Kumite -55kg. The tickets to the final were taken by WKF World ranking leader Anzhelika Terliuga of Ukraine and Valeria Kumizaki of Brazil, who is placed seventh in WKF World Ranking. Terliuga prevailed over Jana Bitsch of Germany in semi-finals 6-3 while Kumizaki edged Grand Winner Sara Cardin of Italy 3-3. 

Meanwhile, in Male Kumite -84kg the gold medal bout will be an affair between WKF World ranking leader Ugur Aktas of Turkey and second-placed in WKF World ranking Zabiollah Poorshab of Iran, in a fight for the domination of the category. Grand Winner Aktas eliminated Kenji Grillon of France in semi-finals 3-1 while Poorshab starred in one of the most thrilling bouts of the day, a heart-wrenching semi-final against Daniyar Yuldashev of Kazakhstan that ended 7-6 for the Iranian karateka. 

The title in Female Team Kata will go to Peru since two sides of the South American country will clash for gold in the final The competition continues on Saturday with day 2 of Karate action from the capital of Chile.