Karate fans around the world will have plenty of opportunities to experience first-class Karate in the upcoming edition of the Karate 1-Premier League. The World Karate Federation is further developing its flagship event by introducing notable innovations and by increasing the number of tournaments set to take place in 2018. 

Karate fans around the world will have plenty of opportunities to experience first-class Karate in the upcoming edition of the Karate 1-Premier League. The World Karate Federation is further developing its flagship event by introducing notable innovations and by increasing the number of tournaments set to take place in 2018. 

The international governing body of the sport unveiled the 2018 edition of the Karate 1-Premier League. The elite Karate event is due to begin in Paris (France) next January and will travel across three continents before concluding in Tokyo (Japan) in October. The 2018 Karate 1 - Premier League will also visit Dubai (UAE), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Rabat (Morocco), Istanbul (Turkey) and Berlin (Germany). 

With five events in 2017, the Karate 1-Premier League increases the number of tournaments as a result of the growing interest of hosts to organise Karate’s top competition. Likewise, the level of presentation of the events continues its expansion. Thereby, two of the new additions to the 2018 Karate 1-Premier League come from the successful 2017 Karate 1-Series A, while events are being transferred to bigger cities and larger venues in order to accommodate the expanding impact and popularity of the competition.  

The main new feature of the 2018 Karate 1- Premier League is focused on the participation of athletes and responds to the intention of the WKF of highlighting the growing relevance and sport standards of the competition. Due to the impressive progression in the level of performance of the competitors, the 2018 Karate 1-Premier League is aligned to encourage the participation of the first 100 placed karatekas in WKF World ranking.   

Additionally, a greater prominence will be posed on the Grand Winners. The best karatekas of the previous edition of Karate 1-Premier League will be honoured and distinguished throughout the event with different actions. Specifically, the 2017 Grand Winners will wear a specially designed karate-gi with a distinctive design embroidered in gold to be worn in all the 2018 Karate 1-Premier League tournaments.  

The increase in the prize money and the growth in the number of TV networks around the world to broadcast the events are other of the new features of the anticipated 2018 Karate 1-Premier League.