Let’s go ! The 1st of the 4 stages of the 2023 Premier League circuit takes place from tomorrow Friday until Sunday in Cairo (Egypt).
K1 Cairo marks the comeback to competition of Olympic champion and 2-times world champion Steven Da Costa, who will be in good company with almost all the top names in world karate, but Kiyuma, Aghayev, Busa and Horuna..
By Ludovic Mauchien / Photo: Boris Radjenovic
2023 is bound to be a special year with the Budapest World Championships in sight in the fall.
The world of before has become the world of today. Gone is the infernal rhythm of K1 qualifiers for the Olympics, which promised us almost every month small Worlds with high-level struggles, epic duels and champions at the top, while waiting for “the” event, the Games.
This year, there will certainly be the Continental Games (on different dates depending on the continent) and the Continental Championships but, as before, the ultimate goal will be the World championship in Hungary (October 24-29).
The appetizer, step 1 of the preparation, for the 32 best karatekas in each category, it is the K1Cairo, which will also award the title of Grand Winner 2022.
The competitors
More than 400 athletes from 61 countries will be present in Cairo. The largest delegation is presented by… Egypt with 68 athletes.
Except in -75 kg where Aghayev, Busa and Horuna (retired) will not be in the game, which completely reshuffles the cards, and in Kata, with the absence of Kiyuna, the grand winners, World champions and Olympic medalists are plethora in Egypt.
Some names : Damian Quintero (ESP), Serap Ozcelik (TUR), Anzhelika Terliuga (UKR), Merve Coban (TUR), Feryal Abdelaziz (EGY), Meltem Hocaoglu (TUR), Angelo Crescenzo (ITA), Ali Elsawy (EGY) , Gogita Arkania (GEO), Miho Miyahara (JPN), Ahlam Youssef (EGY), Iryna Zaretska (AZE), Maria Torres (ESP), Youssef Badawy (EGY)…
The K1 Premier League 2023
January 27-29 : Cairo (Egypt)
May 12-14 : Rabat (Morocco)
June 9-11 : Fukuoka (Japan)
September 8-10 : Dublin (Ireland)
