Navarre Arena Within a month, it will become the venue for the most important world competition in the field of Karate: the Karate World Team Cupbetween November 22 and 24 at the Navarrese pavilion. It is good to remember that Spanish Olympic medalist Damián Quintero has already announced he will retire after competing in Pamplona.
Organized by the public company of the Government of Navarra NICDO in collaboration with the International and National Karate Federations (WKF and RFEK), the event will bring together the highest representatives of this sport at international level, such as Damián Quintero and María Torres, in the modalities of Kata and Kumite. In addition, it will take place for the first time as a competition independent of the Individual World Championship.
In total, it will bring together 80 men’s and women’s teams, from 43 countries including: Italy, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, North Macedonia, Egypt, Turkey, Colombia, China, Germany, Azerbaijan, Spain, France, Kuwait, Hong Kong, Peru, Japan, South Africa, Poland, Iran, Montenegro, Hungary, Serbia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Philippines, Portugal, Morocco, Australia, Croatia, Vietnam, United States, Greece, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Tunisia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Senegal, Chinese Taipei, Ecuador and Chile.
The draw for crosses, held last month in Madrid, marked the countdown to transform the main court of Navarra Arena into an international tatami. The event, streamed for the first time, saw the participation of four of the biggest stars in world karate.
Present were: Antonio Díaz, from Venezuela, who became one of the best in the world in kata, winning gold medals at the World Championships; Anzhelika Terliuga of Ukraine, who has an excellent track record with a silver medal in kumite at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games; Sakura Kokumai, a key kata competitor for the United States in international karate, and Douglas Brose, of Brazil who holds several world kumite titles during his career. They all met remotely to analyze each of the four competition categories and they emphasized that the distribution of groups promises exciting encounters in each of the categories.
He Spanish men’s Kata team entered Group C with France, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Peru. Same group for the women’s national team, C, in this case with Colombia, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Iran. For its part, the Kumite men’s national team was included in Group B – alongside Egypt, Brazil, Japan and Turkey; and the women’s team was selected in Group D, with Chile, China, Morocco and France.
In the case from Navarre there are no competitors in this world cup but the Regional Community Federation, which has more than 1,200 members, will actively participate in the promotion and dissemination of the meeting among the federated peoples, as well as in the actions of dissemination and promotion of karate in the face of the competition . .
Competition calendar
THE elimination roundsthe quarter-finals and semi-finals will take place between November 22 and 23, while the finals and bronze medal matches will take place on Sunday, November 24.
THE opening ceremony The presentation of the participating teams will take place on November 23 at 4:30 p.m. and will consist of a special event bringing together representatives from different countries to the rhythm of Taikos, the traditional Japanese drums which will set the scene for this celebration, during which the highest authorities of this sport around the world, in addition to the great teams and number one athletes in the disciplines of kata and kumite.
An event with a global reach
This is the third world championship for senior categories organized in Navarre in recent years, following the World Inline Speed Skating Championships in 1998 and the World Ball Championships in 2002. Furthermore, the karate There was already a remarkable precedent in 2021 when, also in Navarra Arena, the International Karate 1 Series A Championship was organized for the first time in Spain: one of the most prestigious competitions in the field of karate in which he collected Pamplona to more than 1000 athletes.
In the case of the world cuphis character maximum competition It will attract sports television channels from several countries, which will have a special program to broadcast live the most decisive moments of the World Cup, such as the semi-finals and the final. Specifically, there will be a live broadcast by RTVEMENA (United Arab Emirates), SportenFrance, TRT Turkey, IFC media Czechia, Sports TV Croatia and Italian television (pending finalization). In addition, those who wish can also enjoy all the qualifications via the official YouTube channel of the World Karate Federation (WKF).
THE tickets are now on sale on the Navarra Arena website and at the NICDO ticket office at the La Morea Shopping Center, at a price of 20 euros for the qualifying rounds and semi-finals and 25 euros for the final. Children under 6 years old can enter free of charge by prior invitation at the ticket office.
