With Gomyo and Shimizu, a 3rd japanese is also in the final at the K1 Tokyo. One of the karate stars in Japan, Ken Nishimura assumes his rank and hopes to win the gold medal against the legend Rafael Aghayev on Sunday. For the rest of this first day in the Nippon Budokan of Tokyo, Recchia, Terliuga, Sanchez, Assadilov and Uygur reach the final too.
By Florian Fournier / Photos : Kphotos
-60 kg: Assadilov aims a 4th success in a row
Gold medalist of the last three K1, Kazakhstan Darkhan Assadilov is once again in the final. Winner of Iran’s Hassanniaideilami 6-0 in the semi-final, he will face on Sunday the Italian world champion Angelo Crescenzo to try the win his 4th K1 in a row. The Iranian beat in the first round Douglas Brose 2-0 and Saymatov 1-1 in the quarter-finals. As for Crescenzo, only his 2-0 win in the semi-final against Turkey’s Samdan is worth to be noticed.
Finale : Assadilov (Kaz) vs Crescenzo (Ita)
Bronze : Samdan (Tur) vs Dulovic (Mne) / Hassanniaideilami (Irn) vs Ortiz (Esp)
-67 kg: Gomyo in the final at home
Japan's Hiroto Gomyo is in a K1 final again after his victory in June 2018 at the K1 Istanbul. To reach the final, he defeated Greece’s Xenos (6-1) in semi-final and Brazil’s Figueira 1-0 in ¼ final. He will face Turkey’s Burak Uygur who is back at his top level. The two-times European champion, winner of another Japanese in semi-final, Nakano (1-1), hopes to get his first gold of the year. His last success was in December 2018 at the K1 of... Tokyo.French World Champion Steven Da Costa was questionably defeated in the third round (1-1) by Kazakhstan’s Amirali.
Finale : Gomyo (Jap) vs Uygur (Tur)
Bronze : Xenos (Gre) vs Figueira (Bra) / Nakano (Jap) vs Kozaki (Jap)
-75 kg: Nishimura / Aghayev, the final of the kings
Ken Nishimura assumes his status and rank. The Japanese gets qualified to the -75kg final after a semifinal win (0-0) over World champion Asgari. In the final, he will meet Rafael Aghayev, qualified after a miraculous victory against Ukraine’s Stanislav Horuna. As he was leading 1-0, Horuna took a 4th 9 penalty 2 seconds to the end and is thus disqualified.
Finale : Nishimura (Jap) vs Aghayev (Aze)
Bronze : Asgari (Ira) vs Bitsch (Ger) / Horuna (Ukr) vs Sekouri (Mar)
Female
-50 kg: Recchia is back !
The recovery period is over for France’s Alexandra Recchia. Qualified for the K1 final in Tokyo without any trouble (9-1 against Gu in the semifinal), the 2 toimes World champion will meet Iran’s Bahmanyar in the final. After her final in Shanghai last June, Alexandra Recchia recovered his shape at the best time. The loss of Plank, Miyahara and Ozcelik give her the opportunity to narrow the gap in the Olympic ranking.
Finale : Recchia (Fra) vs Bahmanyar (Ira)
Bronze : Gu (Tpe) vs Li (Chn) / Ku (Tpe) vs Tadano (Jap)
-55 kg: Terliuga on her way
Ukraine's Terliuga keeps winning. After 3 wins (Paris, Rabat, Shanghai) and a second place (Dubai), in the last 4 K1, the Ukrainian is again in the final. Winner of the European champion Warling in the semifinals (0-0), she will meet Taipei’s Wen in the final. The latter won 2-1 against Spain’s Fernandez in the semifinals. Also to be noticed, the victory of Terliuga 1-0 against Cardin in the third round.
Finale : Terliuga (Ukr) vs Wen (Tpe)
Bronze : Warling (Lux) vs Nakamura (Jap) / Fernandez (Esp) vs Hasani (Cro)
Kata: Sanchez and Shimizu, an inseparable duo
The Spanish world champion and the Japanese world silver medalist are again in the final. In her temple, the Nippon Budokan, Shimizu hopes to score and win the first round of a duel that could be found in the summer of 2020 for the Olympic title.
Finale : Shimizu (Jap) vs Sanchez (Esp)
Bronze : Ono H. (Jap) vs Bottaro (Ita) / Ono M. (Jap) vs Iwamoto (Jap)
