Day one - 10th World University Karate Championship 2016 - Braga

Braga - The 10th World University Karate Championship began yesterday with Kata’s trial, in which over 50 athletes stepped in the Tatami looking for the decisive final matches in the category. On the individual Kata competitions, Hiroki Kubo (Japan) and Mohammed El-Hanni (Morocco) were the ones who caught the passport for the male final as well as the female athletes, Misaki Tanaka (Japan) and Sakura Kokumai (USA): the decisive matches will take place on Friday afternoon at 5.30 pm. Also, Portugal, Czech Republic, Egypt and France will fight for the 3rd place on Friday afternoon at 3 pm. On the male category, the match that will decide the 3rd place will be disputed by athletes of France, Spain, Slovakia and Russia. During the afternoon, the UMinho Sports Hall held the individual Kumite eliminatories, as well as the semi-finals and repechages. On the male side, the ‘karate kids’ competed as full grown men, showing determination and emotion, as well as a big respect for the opponent on the Tatami. In all five individual Kumite challenges (-84kg, +84kg, -75kg, -67kg and -60kg) there were 88 athletes looking for a place on the podium. On the female side, the same aim. About 80 athletes were on competition this Wednesday, trying to get the best result on the competition for their countries. This Thursday, Team Kata and Team Kumite ‘will take care’ of the Tatami, before a pleasant resting afternoon. Good luck everyone! Stay tuned with FISU and follow us on our different social platforms! Subscribe to our Youtube Channel : ‪http://www.youtube.com/subscribe_widget?p=fisutv‬ Follow us on: Facebook: ‪https://www.facebook.co/FISU.InternationalUniversitySport ‬Twitter: ‪https://twitter.com/FISUnetwork ‬flicker: ‪http://www.flickr.com/people/fisu_network/‬ Visit the official website of the FISU Movement at http://www.fisu.net for all information on University Games, Sports and Athletes, National FISU Committees and FISU News.