Karate has finally made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games and Japan has now won two medals in the new Olympic sport. Just yesterday, karateka Kiyou Shimizu won the silver medal in the women’s karate kata match. Following her win is Ryo Kiyuna, who snatched the gold medal in the men’s kata final at the Nippon Budokan arena.
Kiyuna, a 31-year-old Okinawa native, won against Damian Quintero from Spain, making him the first-ever Japanese karateka to win an Olympic gold medal. He scored 28.72 against Quintero's 27.66.
6 August - #Karate - Men's Kata
🥇KIYUNA Ryo 🇯🇵
🥈Damián Quintero 🇪🇸
🥉Ali Sofuoğlu 🇹🇷
🥉Ariel Torres Gutierrez 🇺🇸#UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Olympics | #Tokyo2020
The kata practice of karate focuses on the form and posture of the sport as well as the detailed choreography of the movements made against an opponent. The karate kumite competition, on the other hand, focuses on sparring techniques – and it kicks off tomorrow on Saturday August 7.
Keep up-to-date with our guide to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well as our Tokyo 2020 Olympics medal tally for Japan.
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