Iran confirms lineup for Karate 1-Premier League event in Paris
Tokyo Olympic champion Sajjad Ganjzadeh will headline the Iranian squad in the upcoming 2025 Karate 1-Premier League season opener – starting Friday in Paris.
Ganjzadeh will be joined by former Asian champion Saleh Abazari and Mahdi A’ashouri in the men’s kumite +84kg contests, with Ali Meskini – an Asian silver and bronze medalist – and Amirreza Borzouei taking part in the -60kg and -67kg events respectively.
Bahman Asgari – world champion in 2018 – will be among the favorites for the ultimate prize in the -75kg weight class, and two-time world gold medalist Mahdi Khodabakhshi will represent the country in the -84kg competitions.
In the women’s draw, Fatemeh Sadeqi will be chasing a second individual kata gold in two weeks, having stood atop the podium in the Karate 1-Series A event in Tbilisi earlier in January.
Ma’soumeh Mohsenian will be the Iranian girl in the kumite -50kg contests, while Taravat Khaksar (-55kg), Atousa Golshadnejad (-61kg), and Mobina Heidari (-68kg) will be looking to build on their bronze-winning campaigns in last September’s Asian Championships when making a first international appearance of the year.
Some 400 karatekas from 70 countries, including all 12 grand winners of last season’s competitions, will vie for success in the French capital.
The event comes after Iranians bagged 12 medals – including six golds through Sadeqi, Sara Bahmanyar, Mehrnegar Ahmadi, Vahab Shamir, Mahmoud Ne’mati, and Morteza Karimi in different men’s and women’s categories – to finish atop the table in the first Karate 1-Series A event in 2025.