The 2017 GRAND WINNER of the Female Kata category is SANDRA SANCHEZ. The Spanish Karate Star is crowned as the best of the best of the year thus recognising an outstanding season that extends her impressive medal-winning streak in international competitions. 

The 2017 GRAND WINNER of the Female Kata category is SANDRA SANCHEZ. The Spanish Karate Star is crowned the best of the best of the year thus recognising an outstanding season that extends her impressive medal-winning streak in international competitions.

World Ranking leader Sandra Sanchez has steadily reached the podium in ALL the tournaments she has participated in over two years; it is a record-breaking successful performance at high-level that the Spanish ace credits to non-stop hard work. 

“It was a good year for me because I could win medals in all the tournaments that I have participated in, which is great. It is a reward for all our efforts and it stresses the importance of the hard work that we have been doing over the last years,” said Sanchez after receiving the GRAND WINNER award. 

“I am delighted for this (Grand Winner) award. It was the perfect ending for the season and it gives me the strength to start the next season in the best possible way,” added the defending European champion.

PERMANENT SPOT AT THE PODIUM

The 36-year-old karateka, after getting bronze at the 2016 World Championships, continued her triumphant path in international competitions by finishing in the third place in the first event of the year, the Karate 1-Premier League in Paris. Sanchez would not leave the podium of the top events of the season after claiming an imposing tally of seven medals in seven tournaments. 

The Spanish heroine prevailed at the Karate 1-Premier League in Rotterdam, at the Karate 1-Series A at home in Toledo and at the European Championships; in addition to this, Sanchez won silver at The World Games and took bronze medals at the Karate 1-Premier League in Halle/Leipzig, Rotterdam, and Paris. 

These results would certainly grant Sanchez a well-deserved spot in Karate stardom; even more so considering that the Shito Ryu karateka has never got off the podium since 2015. The last time that the Physical Education major missed the honours at high-level competition was in November 2014, at the Karate1 Premier League – Grand Final in Salzburg. 

Nearly 35 months later and with 21 medals on her belt in 21 events, Sanchez continues making history for the sport. The accomplishments achieved by the affable karateka are even more remarkable considering that the athlete who has headed the World Ranking for the past three years was not a permanent fixture in international competitions barely five years ago. With her big collection of medals as baggage, Sanchez sees the sky as the limit, while keeping the Olympic dream alive. The Spanish Karate Star, who gets her top form in exhausting training sessions of six hours per day, six days a week, is one of the main front-runners in the quest to win the qualification to Tokyo 2020. 

“I am getting very good feelings and I am very positive about the future. Of course there still a lot of room for improvement. As next year will be so important for our goals (of the Olympic qualification) we will continue working hard to keep on getting better and better,” added Sanchez.