There is only one Karate1 left in Rabat (March 13-15), and the European championships for... the Europeans (1). Enough to say that the recently completed Salzburg Karate1 has delivered its Olympic verdict for several athletes.
However, the suspense remains intense in several categories. Will Horuna qualify directly ? Will Gong Li manage to be ahead of everyone on the wire ? Did Crescenzo score the decisive points ?... In any case, it’s done for Busa and Aghayev. Update of the Olympic standing on March 2, after the Karate1 Salzburg.
By Ludovic Mauchien / Photo : Kphotos
-67 kg
In-60 kg, Darkhan Assadilov, 3rd in Salzburg, is over the symbolic bar of 10,000 points. It was Angelo Crescenzo who carried out the very beautiful operation of the weekend with his 2nd final in a row. In the ½ final, he dominated Eray Samdan and beat back the Turk as much in the standing (now 940 points).
In -67 kg, Steven Da Costa already qualified, was absent. Vinicius Figueira, defeated in round of 8 by Pokorny, lost some points to Ali Elsawy (3rd in Salzburg), but remained in the qualifying position. The Karate1 Rabat will be decisive : only 410 points separate them. It will now be very complicated for Burak Uygur, 5th in Austria.
- Assadilov (Kaz), 10387,5 pts
- S. Da Costa (Fra), 8940
- Crescenzo (Ita), 8850
- Samdan (Tur), 7912,5
- Figueira (Bra), 6832,5
- Elsawy (Egy), 6412,5
- Uygur (Tur), 5137,5
- Sago (Jap), 4447,5
- Maresca (Ita), 4425
- Shinohara (Jap), 4245
-75 kg
This time, it's done. Luigi Busa, 5th in Salzburg, and Rafael Aghayev, 1/4 finalist, are officially qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. The excellent operation of the weekend is to be credited to Stanislav Horuna. 6th and 1st unqualified before Salzburg, he is now 5th and last qualified thanks to his final in Austria. His victim ? Scott Thomas, beaten in his 1st fight in Salzburg. In bronze in Dubai, Bahman Asgari won his third success in 4 K1.
- Asgari (Irn), 9262,5
- Busa (Ita), 7740
- Aghayev (Aze), 7005
- Nishimura (Jap), 6112,5
- Horuna (Ukr), 5707,5
- Scott (USA), 5047,5
- Eltemur (Tur), 4162,5
- Ainazarov (Kaz), 4147,5
- Harspataki (Hon), 3382,5
- Abdelaziz (Egy), 3352,5
+75 kg
Winner in Austria, Ugur Aktas goes over the symbolic bar of 10,000 points. Behind him, place to the rules. Zabiollah Poorshab, 2nd in the standing, 1st Iranian, is not qualified because his compatriot Sajad Ganjzadeh, 3rd in the ranking, is n°1 in +84 kg.
This point (privileging the place of world n°1 in one of the two categories rather than the 1st athlete of the same country in the standing) almost condemns Gogita Arkania for a direct qualification. 3rd in Salzburg, the Georgian must come back to Jonathan Horne, beaten in the 1st round in Austria, and his 980 points ahead. It's not over but it would be a real achievement.
This rule benefits Croatia’s Ivan Kvesic, 3rd -84 kg in the standing but 2nd qualified. But he is still not qualified for sure for the Games even if it smells good. Kenji Grillon, thanks to his 1st win in 2 years, is now 23rd instead of 30th.
- Aktas (Tur), 10372,5
- Poorshab (Irn), 9225
- Ganjzadeh (Irn), 8617,5
- Horne (All), 8062,5
- Kvesic I. (Cro), 7087,5
- Arkania (Geo), 7080
- Araga (Jap), 5490
- Yuldashev (Kaz), 5107,5
- Abazari (Irn), 4702,5
- Yamanoglu (Tur), 4642,5
Kata
Damian Quintero, 3rd in Salzburg, passes over the symbolic bar of 10,000 points and consolidates his 1st place in the absence of Kiyuna. Mattia Busato grabs a place and Enes Ozdemir appears in the top 10. Ali Sofuoglu, finalist in Salzburg, consolidates his 3rd place.
- Quintero (Esp), 10117,5
- Kiyuna (Jap), 9120 pts
- Sofuoglu (Tur), 6892,5
- K. Moto (Jap), 6157,5
- Diaz (Ven), 5205
- Busato (Ita), 4650
- Shimbaba (Jap), 4567,5
- Goktas (Tur), 3607,5
- Ozdemir (Tur), 2940
- Kinjo (Jap), 2812,5
-55 kg
In -50 kg, Serap Ozcelik, again on the podium in Austria (3rd), passed the 11,000 points mark. Miho Miyahara came 4th thanks to her success. Sara Bahmanyar, beaten in the 2nd round, goes down from 4th to 6th place in the standing but remains in the qualified position. Bettina Plank, thanks to her 5th place, maintains the suspense.
Just like Jana Bitsch-Messerschmidt in -55 kg. Finalist in Salzburg, the German jumps from 7th to 5th place and can still overtake Wen Tzu-Yun and her 1400 points ahead. But it would be tough.
- Ozcelik (Tur), 11302,5
- Terliuga (Ukr), 9472,5
- Wen (Tpe), 7080
- Miyahara (Jap), 6315
- Bitsch-Messerschmidt (All), 5707,5
- Bahmanyar (Irn), 5647,5
- Plank (Aut), 5197,5
- Yakan (Tur), 5137,5
- Khaksar (Irn), 4777,5
- Li (Chn), 4680
-61 kg
Yin Xiaoyan, once again on the podium (3rd), reaches the symbolic bar of 10,000 points. Merve Coban increased her lead thanks to her win. She is not yet officially qualified for a few dozen of points but it would take a cataclysm for Prekovic, 4th qualified, to overtake her.
By losing in the 2nd round in Salzburg, Prekovic also (re) endangered herself. Fortunately for her, her competitors did not really take advantage of it, but Haya Jumaa, who went from 7th to 5th place thanks to her final and got closer to 350 points from the Serbian. On the other hand, Rozita Alipourkeshka lost in ¼ and Leila Heurtault in the round of 16. It becomes therefore very for the French that must now fill a delay of 950 points. Note that Gwendoline Philippe is no longer in the race following her knee injury contracted in Dubai.
- Yin (Chn), 10545 pts
- Lotfy (Egy), 7710
- Coban (Tur), 7027,5
- Prekovic (Ser), 5482,5
- Alipourkeshka (Irn), 5107,5
- Philippe (Fra), 4890
- Jumaa (Can), 5137,5
- Heurtault (Fra), 4515
- Grande (Per), 3705
- Someya (Jap), 3217,5
+61 kg
In -68 kg, if Irina Zaretska is already qualified, it tightens for the 2nd qualifying place. Elena Quirici is still 2nd in the standing but sees her lead shrinking like heartbreak with the comeback from nowhere of Gong Li, victorious in Salzburg, who goes from 7th to 4th place and is now 112.5 points from the Swiss, and Feryal Abdelaziz, who goes from 9th to 5th place and is 450 points from Quirici. Silvia Semeraro, who lost in the 1st round, paid the price of the operation and is now in 7th place, some 800 points behind the Swiss.
In +68 kg, Iran’s Hamideh Abbasali, thanks to her success, goes from 3rd to 2nd place in the standing and consolidates her lead. But she injured her knee in the final and is out. Will her 1,400 points ahead of Meltem Hocaoglu and Eleni Chatziliadou be enough ? The Turkish and Greek are only separated by... 22.5 points. And Sofya Berultseva is in ambush.
- Zaretska (Aze), 9247,5 pts
- Abbasali (Irn), 6997,5
- Quirici (Swi), 6525
- Gong (Chn), 6412,5
- Abdelaziz (Egy), 6075
- Uekusa (Jap), 5910
- Semeraro (Ita), 5730
- Hocaoglu (Tur), 5677,5
- Chatziliadou (Gre), 5655
- Berultseva (Kaz), 5467,5
Kata
Sandra Sanchez Jaime passed over the 12,000 point mark with her new victory ! This is the record for all categories. Sakura Kokumai, with her final, consolidates her 4th qualifying place at the expense of Dilara Eltemur.
- Sanchez Jaime (Esp), 12322,5
- Shimizu (Jap), 9082,5
- Bottaro (Ita), 7275
- Lau (HK), 6300
- Kokumai (USA), 5887,5
- Ono (Jap), 5617,5
- Eltemur (Tur), 4447,5
- Iwamoto (Jap), 3562,5
- Anacan (Nzl), 2535
- Dimitrova (Dom), 2325
(1)GOOD TO KNOW
10 athletes per category are qualified for the Olympic Games : 4 via the standing (highlighted in red), 3 via the Olympic Qualification Tournament (May 8-10 in Paris), 1 Japanese (host country), 2 IOC wild cards.
A victory in the Premier League or a continental championship (coefficient 6) earns 990 points, a 2nd place 750, a 3rd place 570. Until April 6, 2019, the points were reduced by 50%.
When categories are grouped (-67 kg, +75 kg, -55 kg, +61 kg), it is the two 1st of each non-Olympic category who are qualified (ex: the two 1st -60 kg and the two 1st -67 kg).
Each country can qualify a maximum of one athlete per category.
Standing ends on April 6, 2020. The remaining competitions : Premier League Rabat, plus the European championships for those concerned. The points awarded in the 2019 edition of these championships have so far been counted but will be replaced by those in the 2020 edition.
