Karate Stars, World champions and Grand Winners, together with hopeful upcoming figures of the sport are ready to clash for gold at the 2017 Karate 1-Premier League to be held in Rotterdam this coming weekend. 

Karate Stars, World champions, and Grand Winners, among many others are ready to clash for gold at the 2017 Karate 1-Premier League to be held in Rotterdam this coming weekend. The Dutch city is set to have the eyes of the Karate world on in when it hosts the record-breaking second stop of the season of the first-class Karate event. 

World champion and Karate Star Kiyou Shimizu from Japan leads the way of the biggest names of the sport going for gold in Rotterdam. The two-time world title holder, who was absent from the Karate 1-Premier League in Paris, is the top favourite to dominate the Kata competition in the Dutch city, as the Japanase Karate Star has won all the major international tournaments she has participated in since 2011. Karate Star Sandra Sanchez of Spain and Grand Winner Terryana D’Onofrio from Italy will try to cause the first upset in Shimizu’s outstanding career. 

French idol Alexandra Recchia will try to come back from the setback she suffered at home in Paris when the defending World and European champion failed to reach the medal stage in the first event of the season. The 28-year old karateka aims at her 11th gold medal in Karate 1-Premier League, while Grand Winner Kateryna Kryva of Ukraine and Karate Star Serap Ozcelik also intend to take their chances at Topsportcentre sports hall. 

Japan’s Ryutaro Araga acts as top favourite in male categories in Rotterdam. Following his victory in Karate 1-Premier League in Paris, the defending World champion travels to the Dutch city to continue his impressive winning streak in major international events after signing medals in all his eight appearances since 2015.  Grand Winner Valerii Chobotar of Ukraine will be one of his main rivals. 

Also triumphant in Paris World champion Sajad Ganjzadeh of Iran leads the numerous representation of his country so to continue the successful participation of Iranian Karate in top events. 

Karate Stars Sara Cardin of Italy, Damian Quintero of Spain and Thomas Scott of USA, as well as Grand Winners Emad Al Malki of Saudi Arabia, Vinicius Figueira of Brazil, Majed Alkhalifah of Saudi Arabia, Syakilla Salni Jeffry Krishnan of Malaysia, Ingrida Suchankova of Slovakia, Elena Quirici of Switzerland and Anastasiya Stepashko of Ukraine will be among the many karatekas ready to shine in Rotterdam.

With over 1200 athletes enrolled to compete in Rotterdam from March 17 to 19, the tournament continues the trend of record-breaking participation figures at Karate 1-Premier League competitions. While 1217 competitors from 75 countries took part in the inaugural stop of the event which was held in Paris in January, no less than 1258 karatekas from 73 nations have completed the registration to compete in Rotterdam. This number represents an extraordinary increase over past editions since 684 athletes from 54 countries participated in the 2016 edition of the event. 

About Karate 1 – Premier League 

The Karate1-Premier League- is the most important league event in the world of Karate. It comprises of a number of the most prominent Karate competitions, with the cities of Paris (France), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Dubai (UAE), Rabat (Morocco) and Halle/Leipzig (Germany) acting as the stops of this year’s edition.

The Karate 1-Premier League will also be one of the key elements in the road to the Olympic qualification since the points to be allocated in Karate 1-Premier League tournaments will play an essential role in the configuration of the World ranking. 

About Karate World TV Channel 

The Karate World TV Channel gives fans around the world a front row seat to view all the Karate 1- Premier League events. By signing to the Karate World TV Channel, Karate fans will receive all the excitement of the 2017 Karate 1-Premier League in HD, including all five tournaments LIVE, On-demand event replays, Video On Demand and Exclusive Content. 

Sign up for the Karate World TV Channel HERE

Follow WKF on Social Media: