In male team kumite, Egypt no longer arrives as a challenger. When the Karate World Cup opens in Hangzhou on 20 November, the Egyptians will step onto the tatami as the reigning champions of a category they conquered in Pamplona two years ago, at the end of a climb that took them in just over a year from a first world final to a first world title. The draw has placed them in Group D, alongside France, Malaysia, Mexico and Uzbekistan, with only two places in the quarter-finals for five nations.
Budapest 2023: the final that slipped away
The story begins at the World Senior Championships in Budapest in October 2023. That year, the male team kumite final brought together two nations that had never reached that stage before, Egypt and Jordan. The Egyptians had earned their place with a 3–1 semi-final win over France, carried, as the WKF noted, by the form of Abdalla Abdelaziz and Youssef Badawy, both finalists in the individual events, and both of whom left Budapest with an individual world title. In the final, presented by the WKF as favourites, Egypt took the lead by winning the first bout, before Jordan answered with two victories in a row. The fourth bout ended in a draw, and everything came down to the last one: Abdelaziz won it 3–1, but with two wins each, the title was decided on the difference of points, 14–10 in favour of Jordan. Egypt left Budapest with silver, the first world final in its history in the category, and an unfinished task.
According to the official results, the Egyptian squad in Budapest was made up of Abdalla Mamduh Abdelaziz, Abdalla Hesham Abdelgawad, Youssef Badawy, Ahmed Elmasry, Ali Elsawy, Taha Tarek Mahmoud and Omar Ashraf Mohamed.
Pamplona 2024: the first crown
A year later, the WKF launched the first Karate World Cup, its world championship for national teams, at the Navarra Arena in Pamplona from 22 to 24 November 2024. This time, the final left no room for doubt. Egypt beat the Islamic Republic of Iran 3–0 and won its first-ever world title in male team kumite, a result the WKF described as a landmark victory and a significant milestone for the African champions, who had improved on their silver from Budapest. Japan completed the podium with a 3–1 win over Italy in the bronze medal match.
The squad crowned in Pamplona, as listed in the official results, brought together eight names: Abdalla Mamduh Abdelaziz, Taha Tarek Mahmoud, Abdalla Hesham Abdelgawad, Ali Osama Mohamed, Mahmoud Badawy, Ali Elsawy, Youssef Badawy and Ahmed Elmasry. Six of them had already been on the tatami in Budapest, which says a great deal about the continuity of the project: the team that lost the 2023 final on points was, at its core, the team that won the 2024 final 3–0.
A team built on individual champions
What sets this squad apart is the individual pedigree of its leaders. When it announced the athletes for the World Games 2025, the WKF presented Abdalla Abdelaziz as world champion at −75 kg, Youssef Badawy as world champion at −84 kg and Taha Tarek Mahmoud as World Championships runner-up at +84 kg. In a format in which every bout counts and a single draw can tip a final, as Budapest showed, having three athletes of that level in the same line-up is a rare asset. Men's kumite teams line up seven or eight competitors, and Egypt can draw on depth as well as stars.
Hangzhou: Group D and a title to defend
The road to a second title starts in Group D. In each category of the Karate World Cup, the twenty teams are split into four groups of five that play a round-robin, and only the top two of each group reach the quarter-finals; the winners go on to the semi-finals, and the two beaten semi-finalists meet for a single bronze medal. Egypt will share its group with France, the team it beat in the Budapest semi-final, as well as Malaysia, Mexico and Uzbekistan. According to the competition programme, male team kumite will hold its group phase and quarter-finals on Friday 20 November, the semi-finals on Saturday 21 November, and the final on Sunday 22 November at 16:45 local time, the last medal match of the event. In Hangzhou, the champions will have to do what they could not quite manage in Budapest and did so convincingly in Pamplona: win every round when it matters.
Photo: WKF
Go further
Sources
- WKF – Japan Dominates as Spectacular and Historic Karate World Cup Wraps Up in Pamplona (24 November 2024)
- WKF – Karate World Cup 2024, official results (PDF)
- WKF – 26th World Senior Championships Budapest 2023, official results (PDF)
- WKF – Plenty of surprises on Day 4 of #KarateBudapest2023
- WKF – Japan top medal table of memorable 2023 World Karate Championships
- WKF – WKF Announces Full List of Karate Athletes for The World Games 2025
- World Karate Federation – official Facebook page, Karate World Cup 2026 draw (20 October 2026)
- WKF – Karate World Cup Hangzhou, competition programme (PDF)
