13 Iranian karatekas to attend in 1-Premier League Istanbul

The city of Istanbul in Turkey will become Karate’s capital from March 12 to 14 as the first international event after the pandemic outbreak will take place there. Expectations are running high among the whole Karate family since the wait is finally over. The last international competition took place in Salzburg, Austria) from Feb. 28 to March 01, 2020.

Nearly 600 karatekas from 72 countries are registered to participate in the event. Seven Grand Winners including local star Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu and World title-holders Sandra Sanchez of Spain and Irina Zaretska of Azerbaijan and no less than nine World champions such as Jonathan Horne of Germany and Bahman Asgari Ghoncheh of Iran have confirmed their presence in Istanbul.

Iran will send seven male and six female karatekas to the prestigious event, the Tehran Times reported.

Amir Mehdizadeh, Aliasghar Asiabari, Bahman Asgari Ghoncheh, Zabihollah Poorshab, Sajad Ganjzadeh, Saleh Abazari and Abolfazl Shahrjerdi will represent Iran’s men’s team.

And Rozita Alipour, Sara Bahmanyar, Shima Alesaadi, Fatemeh Sadeghi, Negin Bagheri and Mahsa Afsaneh are members of Iran’s female team.

The tournament is scheduled to start on Friday, March 12. The finals are slated for Sunday, March 14.

Istanbul is hosting the Karate 1-Premier League for the seventh time. The last time that the Turkish city welcomed Karate’s biggest event was in 2018.

 Iran topped the medal table with three golds followed by Japan and Turkey both with two gold medals.

HJ/