The 2016 Karate 1-Premier League is reaching its final stages of the season after celebrating its seventh event this past weekend in Istanbul (Turkey). The thrilling competition held in the Turkish city put again Karate Stars in the spotlight and anticipated some of the clashes to shake Karate in the coming months.

The 2016 Karate 1-Premier League is reaching its final stages of the season after celebrating its seventh event this past weekend in Istanbul (Turkey). The thrilling competition held in the Turkish city put once more Karate Stars in the spotlight and anticipated some of the clashes to shake Karate in the coming months.

Local heroes Serap Ozcelik, Enes Erkan and  Erman Eltemur caused a sensation with gold medals in Istanbul in a celebration of Turkish dominance in the event held this past weekend. Eltemur’s victory over superstar and World and European champion Rafael Aghayev was the top highlight of the tournament, and paved Turkey’s path to glory in the competition. Erkan’s and Eltemur’s triumphs also helped both athletes to join the list of Karatekas with two gold medals this season.

Meanwhile, Spain’s Sandra Sanchez claimed her third gold of the season in Karate 1-Premier League competitions and stated her condition of front-runner for the forthcoming main events of the sport. In fact, Spanish Karate Star and compatriot Damian Quintero are the only two competitors who have reached the top of the podium three times this season.

Turkey’s Ugus Aktas, Bashar Alnajjar of Jordan, Ryutaro Araga of Japan, Morocco's Achraf Ouchen, Silvia Semeraro of Italy, Giana Lotfy of Egypt, France’s Alexandra Recchia and Vassiliki Panetsidou of Greece complete the list of Karatekas with two gold medals this season.

These are the winners of the events in 2016 Karate 1-Premier League by categories.

Female Kata
Paris: Kiyou Shimizu (JPN)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Sandra Sanchez (ESP)
Rotterdam: Emiri Iwamoto (JPN)
Dubai: Sandra Sanchez (ESP)
Salzburg: Kiyou Shimizu (JPN)
Rabat: Aya Nassiri (MOR)
Istanbul: Sandra Sanchez (ESP)

Female Kumite -50 Kg
Paris: Alexandra Recchia (FRA)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Areeg Rashed (EGY)
Rotterdam: Alexandra Recchia (FRA)
Dubai: Bettina Plank (AUT)
Salzburg: Ayaka Tadano (JPN)
Rabat: Khawla Ouhammad (MOR)
Istanbul: Serap Ozcelik (TUR)

Female Kumite -55 Kg
Paris: Cristina Ferrer (ESP)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Aya Shaaban (EGY)
Rotterdam: Jennifer Warling (LUX)
Dubai: Syakilla Salni Jefry Krishnan (MAL)
Salzburg: Valeria Kumizaki (BRA)
Rabat: Oumaima El-Absi (MOR)
Istanbul: Tzu Yun Wen (TAI)

Female Kumite -61 Kg
Paris: Merve Coban (TUR)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Giana Lofty (EGY)
Rotterdam: Lucie Ignace (FRA)
Dubai: Giana Mohamed Farouk (EGY)
Salzburg: Alexandra Grande (PER)
Rabat: Ingrida Suchankova (SLO)
Istanbul: Tjasa Ristic (SLO)

Female Kumite -68 Kg
Paris: Vassiliki Panetsidou (GRE)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Cristina Vizcaino (ESP)
Rotterdam: Vassiliki Panetsidou (GRE)
Dubai: Silvia Semeraro (ITA)
Salzburg: Alisa Buchinget (AUT)
Rabat: Silvia Semeraro (ITA)
Istanbul: Busra Seyda Turan (TUR)

Female Kumite 68+ Kg
Paris: Anne Laure Florentin (FRA)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Anastasiya Stepashko (UKR)
Rotterdam: Vanesca Tania Nortan (NED)
Dubai: Fanny Clavien (SUI)
Salzburg: Ayumi Uekusa (JPN)
Rabat: Fatima Zahrae Aghardis (MOR)
Istanbul: Masa Vidic (CRO)

Male Kata
Paris: Ryo Kiyuna (JPN)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Francisco Jose Salazar (ESP)
Rotterdam: Damian Quintero (ESP)
Dubai: Damian Quintero (ESP)
Salzburg: Antonio Diaz (VEN)
Rabat: Damian Quintero (ESP)
Istanbul: Ali Sofuoglu (TUR)

Male Kumite -60 Kg
Paris: Ihor Uhnich (UKR)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Abdulhadi Almalki (KSA)
Rotterdam:  Geoffrey Berens (NED)
Dubai: Angelo Crescenzo (ITA)
Salzburg: Marko Antic (SRB)
Rabat: Emad Al-Malki (SAU)
Istanbul: Abdullah Alharbi (SAU)

Male Kumite -67 Kg
Paris: Saeid Ahmadikaryani (IRI)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Bashar Alnajjar (JOR)
Rotterdam: Assylbek Muratov (KAZ)
Dubai: Ali Elsawy (EGY)
Salzburg: Vinicius Figueira (BRA)
Rabat: Bashar Alnajjar (JOR)
Istanbul: Muhammet Ali Yilmaz (TUR)

Male Kumite -75 Kg
Paris: Thomas Scott (USA)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Omar Abdel Rahman (EGY)
Rotterdam: Erman Eltemur (TUR)
Dubai: Rafael Aghayev (AZE)
Salzburg: Daisuke Watanabe (JPN)
Rabat: Khalid Alshaikhi (SAU)
Istanbul: Erman Eltemur (TUR)

Male Kumite -84 Kg
Paris: Ryutaro Araga (JPN)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Abdalla Ibrahim (EGY)
Rotterdam: Timothy Petersen (NED)
Dubai: Ugur Aktas (TUR)
Salzburg: Ryutaro Araga (JPN)
Rabat: Amin Bouazza (FRA)
Istanbul: Ugus Aktas (TUR)

Male Kumite 84+ Kg
Paris: Enes Erkan (TUR)
Sharm El-Sheikh: Achraf Ouchen (MOR)
Rotterdam: Ridvan Kaptan (TUR)
Dubai: Ahmed Said (UAE)
Salzburg: Slobodan Bitevic (SRB)
Rabat: Achraf Ouchen (MOR)
Istanbul: Enes Erkan (TUR)