Ganjzadeh wins world karate bronze
Iran’s Sajjad Ganjzadeh finished his campaign at the World Karate Championships in Budapest with a bronze medal.
Representing the country in the men’s kumite +84kg contests, Ganjzadeh – an Olympic champion two years ago – bounced back from a last-four loss to Frenchman Mehdi Filali to beat Croatian Andelo Kvesic 1-0 in the third-place bout.
In a repeat of the final showdown at the Tokyo Olympics, Ganjzadeh had defeated Saudi karateka Tareg Hamedi before a quarterfinal triumph against Babacar Seck of Spain.
A winner of seven world medals prior to the event in Budapest, Ganjzadeh celebrated a third major medal in 2023, following the bronze in July’s Asian Championships as well as the gold medal at the recently-finished Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Ganjzadeh was also a part of the Iranian kumite team – a winner of three successive world golds between 2014 and 2018 – which was stunned by a 3-2 defeat against Azerbaijan in the last-eight round in Budapest.
Ganjazadeh’s medal was the first at this year’s event for Iran, which had to send a depleted squad to the Hungarian capital after the host country refused to issue entry visas for the male kata representative Ali Zand as well as the country’s female kata trio and the whole para karate team.
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