Five Iranians secure spot at Karate World Championships
Five Iranians have been guaranteed a place at the Final Phase Event of the Karate World Championships – starting November 27 in Cairo, Egypt – the World Karate Federation confirmed in a letter to the national governing body of the sport on Tuesday.
Reigning Asian champion Atousa Golshadnejad secured her place in the women’s -61kg event trough the latest World Rankings.
The world No. 4 will be joined in the kumite competitions by fellow-Iranian girls Fatemeh Sa’adati and Sara Bahmanyar, who punched their Cairo tickets through continental berths.
Sa’adati settled for a -55kg silver at the Asian Championships in May, while former world bronze medalist Bahmanyar stood third in the -50kg class in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The men’s draw in the Egyptian capital will see Morteza Ne’mati and Mahdi Khodabakhshi vie for glory in the -75kg and -84kg contests, respectively.
Ne’mati finished runner-up to Kazakhstan’s Nurkanat Azhikanov in the Asian showpiece to be handed a continental berth, while Khodabakhshi – a world silver medalist in 2023 – qualified through the World Rankings.
The complete entry list for the Final Phase of the world event will be confirmed after the Qualification Tournament in Paris on October 17-19.