WKF Karate World Championships:
Four Iranians to chase qualification in Paris
Four Iranian karatekas will pursue a spot at the upcoming WKF World Championships – starting November 27 in Cairo – when the maiden qualification tournament for the sport’s flagship international event gets underway in Paris on Friday.
Four-time Asian bronze medalist Fatemeh Sadeqi will take part in the women’s individual kata competition, looking to build on her gold-winning campaign at January’s Karate 1 Series A event in Tbilisi, Georgia.
In the kumite contests, Amirreza Borzouei will compete in the men’s -67kg class, with two-time Asian silver winner Mobina Heidari and Hannaneh Salehi – gold medalist in February’s Karate 1 Youth League in Fujairah – chasing a world quota in the women’s -68kg and +68kg categories, respectively.
The Paris qualification tournament has attracted over 500 athletes from 105 countries. The tournament will follow a round-robin format, a system designed to promote fairness and excitement. Competitors will be divided into groups, where each athlete faces every opponent in their pool. The winner of each group advances to the qualification phase, where head-to-head matches decide the final qualifiers. Victors at this stage will claim their spot at final phase in the Egyptian capital.