All you need to know about Karate at 2023 World Combat Games

WHAT

• The World Combat Games are the biggest multi-sport event for combat sports.
• Held every four years, the event reaches its third edition after the tournaments in Beijing (China) in 2010 and St Petersburg (Russia) in 2013.
• No less than 16 combat sports are included in the sports programme of the 2023 edition.
• Created by SportAccord, the event aims at bringing various martial arts and combat sports to an international audience.
• Karate has been part of all three editions of the World Combat Games

WHERE

• The event takes place in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).
• The competition will be held at King Saud University Indoor Stadium.
• Saudi Arabia is a major Karate powerhouse in the region, especially at grassroot level. In the last edition of the World Cadet, Junior & Championships, Saudi Arabia finished on the ninth place with three medals including one gold.

WHEN

• The Karate competition is scheduled for October 20 and 21
• The first day will be composed of the categories of Male Kata, Female Kata, Female Kumite -50kg, Female Kumite -55kg, Male Kumite -60kg, and Male Kumite -67kg.
• The second day of action will see the categories of Female Kumite -61kg, Female Kumite -68kg, Male Kumite -75kg, Male Kumite -84kg, Female Kumite +68kg and Male Kumite +84kg taking the stage.
• Finals will be held at the end of each competition day.

WHO

• No less than 95 athletes from 43 countries will participate in the event.
• Hosts of Saudi Arabia and powerhouse nation of Morocco present the largest delegations in Riyadh with seven athletes each.
• Australia, Italy, and Kazakhstan also participate with numerous representation at the Karate competition with five athletes each.
• The tournament is limited to karatekas in the Under 21 divisions.
• Recently proclaimed Karate 1-Premier League Dublin runner-up Ema Sgardelli of Croatia, and defending U21 World champions Cylia Oukiene of Algeria, Louiza Abouriche of Algeria, Thalya Tombe of France, Matteo Fiore of Italy, and Sanad Sufyani of Saudi Arabia will be among the frontrunners at the event.   

HOW

• Competitors are divided into two pools, and each pool is run with a round-robin system. The first two classified in each pool qualify for the Semi-Finals, the first of one pool against the second of the other pool. The gold and silver medallists compete in five bouts and the bronze medallists in four bouts.

WHERE TO WATCH IT LIVE!

• The event will be available on a number of TV networks around the world. Find the full list of providers here:
• Arena Sport – Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia
  BeIN Sports – Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Philippines, Hong Kong
• CEEN TV– Canada
• Charlton – Israel
• Combate – Brazil
• La Liga TV – Europe (outside of the Arena territories)
• New World TV – Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, and Togo
• Olympic Channel – Europe (outside of the Arena territories), LATAM & USA
• Sportsmax – Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominica Republic, French Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Saba, St. Barthelme, St. Eustatius, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, the Turks and Caicos and US Virgin Islands
• Premier Sports – Mongolia
• T Sports Thailand
• Video Vision – Pakistan
• SpoTV (highlights) – South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Timor-Leste, Brunei, Cambodia & Thailand
  
• Additionally, the eliminations will be available LIVE on the WKF YouTube channel  
•  CLICK HERE to go to the WKF YouTube channel.

2023 WORLD COMBAT GAMES