Karate 1-Premier League Opening Day Results From Salzburg
The action has continued at the Karate 1-Premier League. Taking place in Salzburg this time out, a number of athletes are ready for the finals after the first day of action.
Medal bouts will be taking place on Sunday, March 1. For our followers in the MENA region, the event is available on the FIGHT SPORTS MAX app.
It will be a rematch of the Karate 1-Premier League match in Dubai that took place not that long ago, as Sandra Sanchez and Sakura Kokumai will square off in the finals of the Female Kata. Sakura utilized the “Papuren” kata for a score of 26.14. Sanchez also used the “Papuren” kata for a score of 26.0. Sanchez ended up winning the contest between the two last time out.
We have the first finalists of the day❗️
In Female Kata the 🥇 will go to either Sandra Sanchez 🇪🇸 or Sakura Kokumai 🇺🇸
Who will win? Vote now 👇#Karate 🥋 #Karate1Salzburg 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/T6R4BbS5mm— World Karate Federation 🥋 (@worldkarate_wkf) February 28, 2020
One of the major themes of today were the upsets.
Emil Pavlov, the winner of the 2019 Karate 1-Premier League in Moscow beat current Grand Winner Darkhan Assadilov in the semi-finals of the Male Kumite -60kg. With a score of 2-1, Pavlov will face Angelo Crescenzo, who won in Dubai. Angelo had a one-sided contest, beating Eray Samdan 5-1.
21-year-old Nadia Gomez Morales qualified for the finals following an 8-4 semi-final win over Bettina Plank. The 2017 US21 World Champion beat out Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu, Sophia Bouderbane and Li Ranran, all three with trophies at one point or another. She will face Miho Miyahara of Japan, who beat Alexandra Recchia in the semi-finals 6-2.
Other results from the day:
– Jana Messerschmidt of Germany and Sara Cardin of Italy will face off in the finals of the Female Kumite -55kg. The World Championship’s runner-up, Messerschmidtbeat Tzu-Yun Wen in the semi-finals with a 2-1 score. Cardin defeated her own teammate in Veronica Brunori in the semi-finals 4-0. This is Cardin’s first final since the 2018 Karate 1-Premier League matches in Istanbul.
– A big comeback came from Ukraine’s Stanislav Horuna. Competing in the Male Kumite -75kg, Horuna beat Gabor Harspataki Karoly in the semi-finals 4-1. He will face Iran’s Bahman Asgari Ghoncheh after the World Champion beat Erman Eltemur 4-4.
– Italy’s Luca Maresca and Turkey’s Rafiz Hasanov will face off in the finals of the Male Kumite -67kg.