Karate’s elite will gather in Paris from January 27 to 29 to compete in the first tournament of the season of the new and renovated Karate 1-Premier League. The 2017 edition of the first class international Karate events presents exciting new features to further develop the already spectacular competition. 

Karate’s elite will gather in Paris from January 27 to 29 to compete in the first tournament of the season of the new and renovated Karate 1-Premier League. The 2017 edition of the first class international Karate events presents exciting new features to further develop the already spectacular competition. 

Live on TV and HD Pay-Per-View

For the first time, the Finals and Bronze medal bouts of all five 2017 Karate 1-Premier League events will be broadcast in TV Networks around the world. 

Moreover, the medal-deciding day of each tournament will be available to a worldwide viewing audience in HD Pay-Per-View. This new Karate 1-Premier League Pay-Per-View Channel gives fans a front row seat to view the five top Karate events. 

The broadcast and HD stream on Pay-Per-View of both the Finals and the Bronze medal bouts represents one of the main developments of the 2017 Karate 1-Premier League and one of the biggest reasons to celebrate for fans around the world. More details to be released soon. 

Competition calendar

An improved competition calendar will be applied in the 2017 Karate 1-Premier League to adapt the events to the expanding magnitude of the tournaments. 

All the Final bouts will be disputed on Sunday. This decision aims at benefiting TV broadcast and audience attendance of the events. 

In addition to this, all tournaments will begin on Friday. The competition programme has been extended in order to accommodate the increasing number of competitors to be registered in Karate 1-Premier League. In some cases such as the events in Paris and Rotterdam, the competition will start on Friday morning. 

Rising competitive level 

The increasing level of competition at Karate 1-Premier League events has been a constant in recent years, as top Karatekas have continued to showcase an unprecedented and thriving excellence in the sport. Several measures have been taken to ensure a further rise in the sport standards of the tournaments. 

In order to be eligible to win the Grand Winner award, competitors need to take part in at least 60% of the events and in two continents. In this way, top athletes are encouraged to intensify their participation at Karate 1-Premier League if they want to opt to the biggest prize at the end of the season. 

The Karate 1-Premier League will also be one key element in the road to the Olympic qualification since the points to be allocated in Karate 1-Premier League tournaments will play an essential role in the configuration of the decisive World ranking. 

Improved sport presentation

An effort has been made by the WKF to improve the sport presentation of the events. Among the new initiatives to further enhance the delivery of these top tournaments are the selection of first class competition venues, unified layout and design of the competition areas, and promotional activities to guarantee spectators attendance.  

In addition to this, innovations have been applied to the competition karategis to further develop and upgrade one of the elements of greater visual impact of modern Karate. The karategis that can be used at Karate 1-Premier League (not compulsory) and which are produced by the ten WKF homologated brands will present as new feature the embroidered emblem of the brand in the upper part of the sleeves, either in the customary red or blue colours. This embroidery will have a measure of 25 cm long and 6 cm wide as maximum. 

Also, in order to highlight the top karatekas’ success, the current Grand Winners will have the option of wearing karategis with golden embroidered emblems. 

The brands that are approved by the WKF to be used in Karate 1-Premier League events are Adidas, Arawaza, Budo-Nord, Daedo, Hayashi, Shureido, Smai, Tokaido, Wacoku and Wesing.