A massive celebration of first-class Karate is being held this weekend in Guadalajara (Spain). The inaugural event of the Karate 1-Series A season is taking place from Friday to Sunday in the Spanish city with over 1300 karatekas from 82 countries demonstrating the impact and showmanship of high-level Karate.  Japanese karatekas clearly took the spotlight on the first day of action at Polideportivo Multiusos sports hall. 

A massive celebration of first-class Karate is being held this weekend in Guadalajara (Spain). The inaugural event of the Karate 1-Series A season is taking place from Friday to Sunday in the Spanish city with over 1300 competitors from 82 countries demonstrating the impact and showmanship of high-level Karate.  Japanese karatekas clearly took the spotlight on the first day of action at Polideportivo Multiusos sports hall after dominating the Kata categories. 

The representatives of the Japanese team showcased their outstanding domination of the Kata competition on the opening day of the Karate 1-Series A in Guadalajara. Nine of the 12 athletes qualified for the medal bouts in the categories of choreographed movements wear the flag of the birth nation of the sport. 

The Female Kata competition will see an All-Japan final since Hikaru Ono will meet Kiyou Shimizu for gold. World champion Kiyou Shimizu confirmed her front-runner status and reached the final after winning all six bouts by unanimous decision 5-0. Teammate Hikaru Ono will try to dethrone the big favourite in her six final in seven international appearances. The Japanese karateka who won gold at the Karate 1-Premier League in Paris last year defeated local heroine Sandra Sanchez by split decision (3-2) to make it to the closing day of action. 

SPANISH HERO REACHES THE FINAL 

 The final of Male Kata will also have Japanese representation since Kazumasa Moto surprised with his qualification to the title-deciding bout. In his first final in international competition, the 2017 Karate 1-Premier League Halle/Leipzig bronze medallist shocked favourite Issei Shimbaba to reach the final bout (3-2). 

The local Karate fans will be cheering for the karateka on the other side of the tatami. Spanish Kata hero and World ranking leader Damian Quintero survived the strenuous day of competition and qualified to the final after prevailing in all six bouts, the last one with a victory by unanimous decision 5-0 over Japan’s Chikashi Hayashida. 

“It was a quite tiring day for me. There were a lot of bouts and with so many competitors it was hard to make it through the rounds, but luckily for me, I could reach the final. I am very pleased because things went well for me, the feelings I had on the tatami were also quite good and the katas are developing correctly for me. Let’s see what happens on Sunday, and then we will start thinking about (the Karate 1-Premier League) Dubai”, said Karate 1-Premier League Grand Winner Damian Quintero. 

“Competing at home can be a double-edged weapon sometimes, but I hope that the sports hall will be full on Sunday. Of course, I hope it will be full of fans supporting Spain!”, added the current European Champion. 

The categories of Female Kumite -55kg, Male Kumite -60kg and Male Kumite -67kg also started today with favourites and Karate 1-Premier League Grand Winners struggling to reach the last day of competition. 

The final bouts of the event will be streamed LIVE on WKF YouTube channel. CLICK HERE to go to the LIVE STREAMING of Karate 1-Series A in Guadalajara. 

Also, go to KARATEWORLD.TV for all things Karate. The karateworld.tv Channel gives fans around the world a front row seat to view all the major Karate events. Sign up for the Karate World TV Channel HERE

(Pictures: Servolle Xavier / KPhotos)