The final bout of karate's historic debut at the Olympics ended in uproar on Saturday when Saudi Arabian Tareg Hamedi's high-kick to Sajad Ganjzadeh's neck saw him disqualified and his motionless Iranian opponent awarded the gold medal.
After long battle, karate gets long-awaited chance on Olympic stage June 30 12:05 pm JST June 30 | 12:05 pm JST
Karate has fought a long, hard battle to earn its place as an Olympic sport.
Despite its 100 million practitioners worldwide, a solid place in popular culture and a rich history that some say can be traced back to the 15th century, the Japanese martial art s bid to join the Olympics had been rejected three times, including, initially, for Tokyo 2020.
It was only thanks to the provision under the Olympic Agenda 2020 reform blueprint adopted in 2014 that Games hosts were allowed to propose a number of sports and karate was granted a second shot.
Karate-After long battle, karate gets long-awaited chance on biggest stage
FILE PHOTO: Spain s Karate kata athlete Sandra Sanchez, current World and European Champion, strikes a pose during a training session in Madrid while preparing for the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, where Karate will be an Olympic sport for first time, March 3, 2021. Picture taken on March 3, 2021. REUTERS/Sergio Perez/File Photo
June 30, 2021
By Chang-Ran Kim
TOKYO (Reuters) – Karate has fought a long, hard battle to earn its place as an Olympic sport.
Despite its 100 million practitioners worldwide, a solid place in popular culture and a rich history that some say can be traced back to the 15th century, the Japanese martial art’s bid to join the Olympics had been rejected three times, including, initially, for Tokyo 2020.