Olympian Sofya Berultseva leads way to gold on day 3 of Karate at Asian Games
10/7/2023
Multisport events
The third day of the Karate competition at the 2023 Asian Games concluded with Olympian Sofya Berultseva of Kazakhstan taking the spotlight.
The title in Female Kumite +68kg was taken by Olympian Sofya Berultseva of Kazakhstan who added the crown of the Asian Games to her bronze at the Olympic Games. The Kazakh karateka who is the current continental champion defeated Arika Gurung of Nepal 3-0 thus increasing the gold medal count of the powerhouse nation of Kazakhstan.
In Male Kumite -84kg, Bin Ab Malik Muhammad Arif Afifudd of Malaysia surprised the favourites and won the crown spectacularly. The Malaysian karateka who had the silver medal at the 2019 Asian Games as the best result beat Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Yuldashev in a demonstration of offensive abilities 10-4.
Meanwhile, Sevinch Rakhimova of Uzbekistan claimed her first major international title as she dominated the category of Female Kumite -55kg. The Uzbek karateka upset Ku Tsui-Ping of Chinese Taipei 9-1 in the final of the division.
Kuwait’s Fahed Alajmi surprised Olympian and top favourite Abdel Rahman Almasatfa of Jordan in the final of Male Kumite -67kg. The representative of Kuwait won the crown in a hard-fought final 9-6.
The last day of Karate at the Asian Games will have the categories of ale Team Kata, and Female Kumite -50kg taking the stage.
(Picture: Asian Games)