KARATE – K1 RABAT : UYGUR FINALIST, AGHAYEV AND HORNE IN BRONZE

He is always the same. Polite, humble and honest. « I did not adopt the right strategy Â», he explained a few minutes after his defeat in the K1 Rabat final against Egypt’s Elsawy (2-0). Burak Uygur was angry but was also happy with his karate, as he had not been on a podium since his success in Tokyo last October. In Morocco, he became the two-time European champion again, he just missed a « chouilla Â» to adorn himself with gold. This will not be long to happen again.

It was on the same score of 2-0 that Rafael Aghayev won his 18th medal in 19 competitions over the last 3 years (he missed the podium only in Tokyo last October). The victim of the day is Logan Da Costa. As in Dubai, the Frenchman failed to touch the five-time World champion (-75 kg). A new medal that reinforces the Azerbaijani mattress for the Tokyo Olympics, especially that K1 was the first to count to 100%.

This is also the case for Jonathan Horne. With his titles of World and European champion (+84 kg), the German fighter has secured an interesting lead. With the bronze medal he won in Rabat, by dominating the Portuguese Reis (4-0), the world N°1 consolidates his lead. Not bad for somebody who was sick and about to forfeit a week ago !

Explosive and twirling in the playoffs, the young German Johanna Kneer could not go to the end of the adventure. Stopped in ½ final, she was dominated by Greece’s Panetsidou (3-2) and finally finished 5th, like Naoto Sago. The young Japanese met his winner of the World final for a remake, Angelo Crescenzo. But, once again, it was the Italian who emerged victorious (7-0) and left with the bronze medal.

On the French side, only Gwendoline Philippe (-61 kg) managed to get to the podium, his 8th one in a row in the Premier League, against… Leila Heurtault, his main national competitor for the Olympic qualification. This category is so dense that a 3rd French could have reached the podium. But Laura Sivert, team World champion, was beaten by Japan’s Someya.

It was mainly the Ukrainian fighters who caused a sensation. With 3 gold medals (Horuna, Chobotar and Terliuga), they dominate the competition with the Turks (7 medals), the Iranians (5 medals) and the Egyptians (4).

MEN

-60 kg

1. Assadilov (Kaz)
2. Samdan (Tur)
3. Crescenzo (Ita) and Saymatov (Uzb)

-67 kg

1. Elsawy (Egy)
2. Uygur (Tur)
3. Funahashi (Jap) and Abdelgawad (Egy)

-75 kg

1. Horuna (Ukr)
2. Asiabari (Irn)
3. Nishimura (Jap) and Aghayev (Aze)

-84 kg

1. Chobotar (Ukr)
2. Araga (Jap)
3. Aktas (Tur) and Chikhmarev (Kaz)

+84 kg

1. Ganjzadeh (Irn)
2. Yamanoglu (Tur)
3. Horne (Ger) and Abazari (Irn)

Kata

1. Kiyuna (Jap)
2. Quintero (Spa)
3. Ozdemir (Tur) and Moto (Jap)

Kata équipe

1. Turkey
2. Russia
3. Morocco 2 and Morocco 1

WOMEN

-50 kg

1. Ozcelik (Tur)
2. Sayed (Egy)
3. Tsukii (Phi) and Plank (Aut)

-55 kg

1. Terliuga (Ukr)
2. Wen (Tpe)
3. Khaksar (Irn) and Yakan Tuba (Tur)

-61 kg

1. Yin (Chn)
2. Lotfy (Egy)
3. Philippe (Fra) and Someya (Jap)

-68 kg

1. Quirici (Swi)
2. Melnyk (Ukr)
3. Panetsidou (Gre) and K. Someya (Jap)

+68 kg

1. Hocaoglu (Tur)
2. Quintal (Mex)
3. Abbasli (Irn) and Torres Gracia (Spa)

Kata

1. Shimizu (Jap)
2. Sanchez Jaime (Spa)
3. Eltemur (Tur) and Ono (Jap)

Kata équipe

1. Italy
2. Russia
3. Morocco and Russia 2