The first day of these 25th World karate championships organized in Dubai was punctuated between premieres, surprises and confirmations. Maria Torres Garcia (+68 kg), Youssef Badawy (-84 kg), Silvia Semeraro (-68 kg) and Dastonbek Otabolaev in -75kg will play their 1st world final. Gogita Arkania (+84 kg) and Irina Zaretska (-68kg) will try to claim a new world title.
Par Florian Fournier à Dubaï / Photo : Karatephotobank
+84kg :
Final : Arkania (Geo) vs Marino (Ita)
½ final : Arkania (Geo) b. Kvesic (Cro), 2-1 / Marino (Ita) b. Gurbanli (Aze), 2-1
Highlights of the day :
Gogita Arkania was imperial. No one scored him any points before the semifinals !The 2014 world champion is on his way to win his second world title as he was so impressive today.
On his side, Tareq Hamedi lost in round of 16 against Tzanos (3-3). The Greek was then defeated in ¼ final by the Croatian Kvesic. the Olympic silver medallist is not in rpechages.
-84kg :
Final : Youssef Badawy (Egy) vs Fabian Huaiquiman (Chl)
½ final : Youssef Badawy (Egy) b. Jessie Da Costa (Fra), 2-2 / Fabian Huaiquiman (Chl) b. Nabil Ech-Chaabi (Mar), 5-5
Highlights of the day :
Egyptian Youssef Badawy, winner of the last two K1s in Russia and Egypt, qualifies in an impressive way to the final. Performing a lot of Ura mawashi geri jodan in the preliminary rounds, he struggled in the semi-final against Frenchman Jessie Da Costa.
After an excellent run, Jessie Da Costa will contest for the bronze medal. Being tied with 2 seconds remaining and not having the Senshu against the Egyptian, he will not play in the final.
The reigning world champion Ivan Kvesic lost to Badawy (5-4) in the first round.
World N°1 and European champion in Croatia, Turkey's Aktas was absent with an Achilles tendon injury.
-75kg :
Final : Otabolaev (Uzb) vs Abdelaziz (Egy)
½ final : Otabolaev (Uzb) b. Scott (Usa), 1-0 / Abdelaziz (Egy) b. Mahauden (Bel), 3-0
Highlights of the day :
Rafael Aghayev will not be world champion for the 6th time. Defeated in the round of 16 by Tom Scott, 3-3, after coming back from 0-3 to 3-3 in the last second with a sublime Ushiro Ura Mawashi Geri Jodan, the legend will not be on the podium this time.
The Olympic bronze medalist Stanislav Horuna was defeated at the 1st round by "baby face" Timothy Petersen, 2-0.
Female
+68kg :
Final : Torres Garcia (Spa) vs Okila Menna (Egy)
½ final : Torres Garcia (Spa) b. Berultseva (Kaz), 7-5 / Okila Menna (Egy) b. Lesjak (Cro), 2-1
Highlights of the day :
An unprecedented final will occur in this +68kg category, Spain's Maria Torres Garcia and Egypt’s Okila Menna have never reached this stage of the competition before.
The reigning world champion Eleni Chatziliadou of Greece lost in the 1st round against Brazilian Brenda Padilha Pereira 3-1.
-68kg :
Final : Semeraro (Ita) vs Zaretska (Aze)
½ final : Semeraro (Ita) b. Bratic, 1-0 / Zaretska (Aze) b. Buchinger (Aut), 10-3
Highlights of the day :
Very little warmed up for most of them because of a big delay in the organization's bus, the -68kg still gave a pleasant show.
The reigning Olympic champion, Egyptian Abdelaziz, lost in ¼ final to Canadian Bratic 1-0. Another highlight, Elena Quirici lost 3-0 in the third round against Buchinger.
On her side, the 2014 World champion Alizée Agier failed in the quarterfinal 1-0 against the Italian Semeraro. The French will play the repechage on Thursday to see if she will have the opportunity to compete for bronze.
