The remarkable progress of Karate around the world is further stated in the new edition of Karate 1-Series A. Created in 2017 to offer more opportunities for top karatekas to compete at the highest level, the Karate 1-Series A aims at continuing the expansion of the sport with open championships of unprecedented scale and quality.

The remarkable progress of Karate around the world is further stated in the new edition of Karate 1-Series A. Created in 2017 to offer more opportunities for top karatekas to compete at the highest level, the Karate 1-Series A aims at continuing the expansion of the sport with open championships of unprecedented scale and quality.

The World Karate Federation unveiled the 2018 Karate 1-Series A. The new edition of Karate’s first-class event is due to begin in Guadalajara (Spain) in February and will conclude in Shanghai (China) in December. The 2018 Karate 1-Series A will also travel to Salzburg (Austria) in March and to Santiago (Chile) in September.

Two new venues are being incorporated into Karate’s top competition. The 2018 Karate 1-Series A reaches new levels with the celebration of tournaments in China and Chile thus taking high-class Karate to two top developing countries in the sport. While the organisation of Karate 1-Series A tournaments in Shanghai and Santiago expands the universality of the event and incorporates one more continent to the list of Karate 1-Series A venues, these competitions also guarantee that athletes in Asia and South America will have the opportunity to compete and to increase their position in WKF World Ranking.

The inclusion of Karate 1-Series A in Shanghai and Santiago responds to the growing interests of hosts to organise top Karate competitions. Besides, the addition of the two new venues occurs ever since two hosts of this year’s edition will be part of 2018 Karate 1-Premier League. Following their successful participation in 2017 Karate 1-Series A, the tournaments in Turkey and Japan were included in 2018 Karate 1-Premier League with tournaments to be held in Istanbul and Tokyo respectively.

The main feature of the 2017 Karate 1-Series A was the outstanding record of participation in all four tournaments. A total of 3524 athletes have participated in Karate 1-Series A this year, with an average of nearly 900 competitors per event. The tournaments in Istanbul (Turkey) and Salzburg (Austria) were the most attended, with 1134 athletes from 73 countries participating in the Turkish city and 1122 competitors from 75 nations registered in the Austrian city.

As the 2018 Karate 1-Series A is open to the participation of competitors from all over the world, and the event gives athletes the chance to improve their position in the increasingly-important WKF World Ranking, the next edition of Karate’s first-class tournaments is set to extend the success of this competition format under the Karate 1 umbrella.

The 2018 Karate 1-Series A:

February 9-11:  Guadalajara (Spain)
March 2-4: Salzburg (Austria)
September 21-23: Santiago (Chile)
December 7-9: Shanghai (China)