The World Karate Federation has announced the first 36 athletes who have qualified for the 2025 edition of The World Games.

This announcement comes following the celebration of the 2023 World Karate Championships in Budapest (Hungary) last October. After this event, three athletes per category have qualified to participate in the anticipated multi-sport event to be held in Chengdu (China) from August 7 to 17, 2025.

The qualification system for the Karate competition at The World Games 2025 establishes that the gold and silver medallists, and the bronze medallist with the highest ranking of the 2023 World Championships, all earn the right to participate in The World Games 2025.

The list of 36 karatekas punching their tickets for Chengdu 2025 includes World champions in Kata Ali Sofuoglu (TUR) and Hikaru Ono (JPN), Female Kumite World champions Moldir Zhangbyrbay (KAZ), Tuba Yakan (TUR), Li Gong (CHN), Iryna Zaretska (AZE), and Saito Ayaka (JPN), and Male Kumite World Champions Christos-Stefanos Xenos (GRE), Steven Da Costa (FRA), Abdalla Mamduh Abdelaziz (EGY), Youssef Badawy (EGY), and Medhi Filali (FRA).

The rest of karatekas to participate in the Karate competition of The World Games 2025 will come from the first three positions in each category in the WKF Ranking as per 31st March 2025, in addition to one athlete per category for the host country, and one place per category for universality criteria, as distributed by continental federations.

Held every four years, The World Games are one of the most important global multi-sport events in the world. The 2025 event represents the 12^th edition of The World Games, and it will be held in the city of Chengdu (China). No less than 35 sports have been included in the programme of The World Games 2025. Karate has been part of the sports programme of The World Games since the first edition in 1981.

The FULL LIST of the first Karate athletes qualified for The World Games 2025.

THE WORLD GAMES 2025