14th Asian Karate Championship prepares to launch

The 14th Asian karate Championship organized by the Asian Karate Federation (AKF) under the supervision of the World Karate Federation (WKF) is the ultimate sports karate competition for Asian Karatekas. It is hosted by different countries every 2 years. This championship is scheduled to launch on this coming 15th of July in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Looking at Sri Lanka’s role in this tournament, the Lankans are determined to give a good fight, literally! Competing with nations such as Japan, Iran and China, it is impressive that Sri Lanka was able to secure a bronze medal in the Female Team Kata event at the 13th Asian Karate Championship in 2015. Iresha Thirimanna will be taking part in the Female Kata event competing alongside experienced players such as Iwamoto Emiri from powerhouse Japan, Bagheri Bazardeh Negin from Iran, Chien Hui-Hsuan from Chinese Taipei and Li Elvira from Kazakhstan.

Shuhara Faiz, Nirosha Nirmali and Mihiri Ruwanthika will be representing the island in the Team Kata event of which the defending champs are the Vietnamese. Also, this was the only medal for Sri Lanka at the last Asian Karate Championship and the whole Karate fraternity’s hopeful eyes are on these 3 girls while other notable competition comes from countries such as Japan, India, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Dinusha Perera will be competing in -50kg Female Kumite where it was won in the previous tournament by Japan’s Ayaka Tadano who will be fighting this year too. She too will be looking to further her prospects as last year she ended up ranked 5th in Asia in the -55Kg Female Kumite event. Karatekas in the likes of Tran Thikhan of Vietnam and Dousti Nasrin of Iran too will be fighting head to head in this event.
B

udhika Jayakody in the -55kg Male Kumite event will see competition from defending champ Tzu-Yun Wen of Chinese Taipei along with Ishia Fumika of Japan, Chalaki Fatameh of Iran, host nation Kazakhstan’s very own world ranker Sabhina Zakharova.

In the -61kg Female Kumite event Tharika Samanmali will see fights alongside defending champ China’s Xiaoyan Yin, Japan’s Moriguchi Ayami, Utelbayewa Madina of Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan’s Mirzaeva Barno

Priyan and Thanuka Wickramagallage brothers along with Kanishka Silva will be performing in the Team Kata segment competing with defending champs Japan.

S. Baluraj will see action alongside Japan’s defending champ Ryo Kyuna who is a top ranker in the world Karate rankings. Shike Mu from china, Mesfer Alasmari from Saudi Arabia too are the other notable performers.

Moreover, Prasanna Senanayake fighting in the -75kg Kumite event will be aiming a shot at the title which is currently held by Kazakhstan’s Yesmakhanbet Ruslan. In addition, the top contenders are Li Fali from China and Iran’s world ranker Bahman Asghari.

The -55kg Male Kumite event will see Lankan Ruwan Fonseka battling it out against Kazakhstan’s defending champ Andrey Aktauov along with Fuke Seishiro of Japan who was the 2016 Junior Asian silver medalist. Quite oddly, Kuwait is not represented though it won silver in 2015 while Sri Lanka won 5th place in the previous championship in this event.

This championship sees the participation of 39 affiliated countries that come under the purview of the AKF including countries such as Japan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Iran, Pakistan, Singapore and also our very own Sri Lanka.

The 13th Asian Karate Championship which was held in 2015 in Japan, was won by home team Japan itself, not only showing their grit on their own soil but also reflecting that the birth nation of the sport has still a stronghold of it and continues to nurture it.

Furthermore, it is noteworthy that Japan has been dominating the championship consecutively from 2007 to 2012 while Iran claimed the championship in 2013. However, in 2015 Japan avenged the defeat and restored themselves to the former glory and thus, are the defending champions of this championship.