The best young Karate athletes in the world will travel to Konya (Turkiye) to compete in the anticipated 2022 World Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships. The event is scheduled to be held from October 26 to 30.
WHAT
- The 2022 World Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships are the biggest Karate event for youngsters in the world.
- The tournament reaches its 12th edition. The last World underage championships were held in 2019 in Santiago (Chile).
WHERE
- The tournament takes place in Konya (Turkiye).
- The venue where the competition will be held is the Konya Spor ve Kongre Merkezi sports hall.
- Turkiye are one of the major powerhouse nations of the sport. Many first-class events of Karate have been held in the country over the last years, more recently the 2022 Karate 1-Series A in Kocaeli, and the 2022 Senior European Championships in Gaziantep.
- The city of Konya hosted the 2022 Islamic Solidarity Games, with the Karate competition being one of the most successful events on the programme.
WHEN
- The event is scheduled from October 26 to 30.
- The eliminations will be held from Wednesday, October 26 to Friday, October 28.
- The bronze medal bouts in Cadet categories are held on Saturday, October 29 from 11:00 to 11.50 (local time)
- The bronze medal bouts in Junior categories are held on Saturday, October 29 from 16:00 to 17.00 (local time)
- The bronze medal bouts in U21 categories are held on Sunday, October 30 from 10.00 to 12:00 (local time)
- The FINALS of Cadet categories are held on Saturday, October 29 from 12:00 to 13:50 (local time)
- The FINALS of Junior categories are held on Saturday, October 29 from 17:00 to 19.00 (local time)
- The FINALS of U21 categories are held on Sunday, October 30 from 12:00 to 14.30 (local time)
- The FINALS in Cadet and Junior Team Kata categories are held on Sunday, October 30 from 14:30 to 15.00 (local time)
- CLICK HERE to go to the full competition programme.
WHO
- Over 1800 athletes from 105 countries have registered to participate in the event.
- Japan and hosts of Turkiye present the largest delegations with 39 athletes. Spain and Italy also compete with a large number of representatives with 38 competitors.
HOW
- No less than 35 categories will be at stake in Konya in the three divisions (Cadet, Junior and & U21).
- A total of 140 medals will be awarded.
- The competition follows the knockout format, with the eliminations of each division grouped in each competition day.
WHAT ELSE
- Egypt topped the medal table of the last edition of the World underage Championships with 19 medals including seven golds. Turkiye and France also registered deserving performances in Santiago with 15 and 12 medals respectively.
- The World Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships are the event where the future stars of the sport are crowned. In the event of 2019, the gold medals went to current first-class karatekas such as Olympic Games gold medallist and 2020 UFAK champion Feryal Abdelaziz of Egypt (gold in U21 Female Kumite -68kg), 2022 Pan American champion Valentina Toro of Chile who won gold at home in U21 Female Kumite -55kg, four-time Karate 1-Premier League gold medallist Gwendoline Philippe of France (champion in U21 Female Kumite -61kg), and three-time continental medallist Taha Mahmoud of Egypt, among others.
- The opening ceremony of the event is scheduled for Thursday at 18:00 (local time)
Source and image: www.wkf.net
