Karate news, WKF and Karate 1 results.
Reports and announcements from the published archive.
On 1 November, IOC President Kirsty Coventry joined karate's Focus Day at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. A team kata and kumite demonstration by Senegal's national team, talks with young medallists and children from SOS Children's Villages Senegal marked her visit.
The biopic of Sandra Sánchez opened in Spanish cinemas on 30 October. In Madrid, WKF President Antonio Espinós attended the premiere and praised the champion and her coach Jesús del Moral as "true ambassadors" of karate.
Meeting on 26 October, Japan's Parliamentary Karate Support League elected Masahiko Shibayama as its president and put karate's Olympic prospects for Brisbane 2032 at the centre of its discussions. The Japan Karate Federation also outlined two major events in Tokyo in 2027 and 2028.
Cameras around the tatami and AI that spots attacks and step-outs: the World Karate Federation will trial a new refereeing support tool in December at the Karate One Youth League in Venice. Referees keep the final say.
Eight years after its first Youth Olympic medals in Buenos Aires, karate returns to the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar as an engagement sport. Its big day is Sunday 1 November, a Karate Focus Day on the Corniche led by Douglas Brose.
Mexico will host the XV WKF World Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships in Guadalajara in 2028. The WKF flag was handed over in Bielsko-Biała.
The 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Riyadh move to 28 March–8 April 2027. Karate keeps 13 events: kata and kumite for men and women.
Karate will award no medals at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event on African soil. It will be there all the same, on the Corniche, among schoolchildren and passers-by, with Douglas Brose as the IOC's Athlete Role Model.
In Bielsko-Biała, Palestine's Mariam Bsharat won junior −66 kg kumite gold, adding to her 2024 cadet crown: two world titles at two consecutive editions.
Two weeks after a last gold in Salzburg, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist confirmed in Bielsko-Biała that he has retired and wants to work with the WKF.
Okumura and García Lozano in kata, a second straight title for Omar Osman, a first international gold for Alexandr Capmoale: the final day in Bielsko-Biała crowned the U21 world champions before Japan and Italy closed the week in team kata.
Meeting in Bielsko-Biała during the World Cadet, Junior and U21 Championships, the WKF's Brisbane 2032 Supervisory Board, chaired by Antonio Espinós, reviewed the action plan behind karate's Olympic hopes and the IOC criteria that will frame the decision.
Championships, opens, and the rest of the competition circuit.
England topped the Elite medal table of the 12th Commonwealth Karate Championships with 33 titles, Scotland won 18, and two nations with very different Glasgow stories, Australia and Cyprus, are among those offering to host the next edition.
On the opening Elite day in Glasgow, England took eight of ten individual kata titles while host Scotland claimed both senior team kumite golds and senior women’s team kata.
The individual kumite day of the Glasgow Elite Championships produced 48 champions: 22 for England, four senior titles among Scotland’s 13 golds, and five Cypriot victories in the youngest age groups.
From 5 to 8 November, Glasgow hosts the 12th Commonwealth Karate Championships: two elite days for national teams under WKF rules, then two club days open from children to veterans.
Japan defends three titles at the 2026 Karate World Cup in Hangzhou (20-22 Nov), drawn in Group D each time, with Egypt and France in female team kata.
The WKF has revealed the groups of the Karate World Cup 2026 in Hangzhou: four team categories, four groups of five, and only the top two of each group going through to the quarter-finals.
Silver in Budapest in 2023, then a first world title against Iran in Pamplona in 2024: Egypt arrives at the Karate World Cup in Hangzhou as the holder in male team kumite.
WKF President Espinós tells National Federations the 2026 World Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships in Bielsko-Biała will stream in full on YouTube.
Japan topped the last Series A of 2026 in Salzburg with four titles, as ten new champions from eight countries were crowned over the final weekend.
At WKF headquarters in Madrid, Antonio Espinós welcomed Ukraine's federation president Ivan Dutchak to discuss karate in Europe and upcoming events.
From 14 to 18 October, Bielsko-Biała hosts the 14th WKF World Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships, with nearly 2,000 provisional entries.
Ria Hori and Yosuke Abe win gold for Japan, Kuwait takes male kata and Croatia's Lucija Lesjak the +68 kg title on day one in Salzburg.
