WKF World Karate Championships 2025 – Results of Day One

On November 27, the WKF World Karate Championships 2025 kicked off in Cairo, Egypt, bringing together the 32 strongest athletes of the world rankings in each weight category. This is the first standalone world championship dedicated solely to individual disciplines following the separation of team and individual events.

On the first day, group-stage bouts and the Round of 16 took place in six categories.

An impressive start for the Armenian national team was delivered by Suren Arutyunyan (75 kg), who confidently advanced to the quarterfinals of the world championship. In the Round of 16, Arutyunyan defeated Turkish athlete Ömer Yükür with a score of 2:0. His opponent in the quarterfinals on November 29 will be Morocco’s Sam Hamza.

The next day, November 28, another representative of Armenia will join the competition — Gor Nersisyan, competing in the 84 kg weight class.

The opening day of the championship showcased a high level of competition: six categories completed their preliminary rounds and determined the quarterfinalists. Among them were current leaders of world karate as well as new names making strong statements on the international stage.

Results of Day One of the WKF World Karate Championships 2025 (November 27)

Men, 60 kg

Quarterfinal pairs:

• Tsotne Sordia (Georgia) vs. Eray Semidan (Turkey)

• Ahmed Ahmedov (Russia) vs. Christos-Stefanos Xenos (Greece)

• Ali Meskini (Iran) vs. Mehriddin Turakhanov (Uzbekistan)

• Islam Selmani (Kosovo) vs. Hiromu Hashimoto (Japan)

Men, 67 kg

Quarterfinal pairs:

• Afif Ghait (Jordan) vs. Georgios Baliotis (Greece)

• Abdul Rashidov (Uzbekistan) vs. Yurik Ogannisyan (Russia)

• Thomas Freire Fuentes (Chile) vs. Anis Ayoub Helassa (Algeria)

• Didar Amirali (Kazakhstan) vs. Saïd Oubaya (Morocco)

Men, 75 kg

Quarterfinal pairs:

• Andrei Zaplitny (Ukraine) vs. Enzo Berton (France)

• Ernest Sharafutdinov (Russia) vs. Nurkanat Azikanov (Kazakhstan)

• Suren Arutyunyan (Armenia) vs. Sam Hamza (Morocco)

• Thomas Scott (USA) vs. Abdallah Abdelaziz (Egypt)

Women, Kata

Quarterfinal pairs:

• Ana Cruz (Portugal) vs. Teriana D’Onofrio (Italy)

• Sakura Kokumai (USA) vs. Maho Ono (Japan)

• Georgia-Archontia Xenu (Greece) vs. Chiara Manza (Belgium)

• Aya Hesham (Egypt) vs. Lau Mo Sheung Grace (Hong Kong)

Women, 50 kg

Quarterfinal pairs:

• Yorgelis Camacho Salazar (Venezuela) vs. Gulshan Alimardanova (Uzbekistan)

• Tiffany Bonnarde (France) vs. Ting Yi Tsang (Hong Kong)

• Reem Ahmed Salama (Egypt) vs. Sara Bahmanyar (Iran)

• Lily Alvarado (Ecuador) vs. Shamlahrani Chandran (Malaysia)

Women, 55 kg

Quarterfinal pairs:

• Anzhelika Terliuga (Ukraine) vs. Ahlam Youssef (Egypt)

• Fatemeh Saadati (Iran) vs. Valentina Toro Menezes (Chile)

• Louisa Abouriche (Algeria) vs. Madina Sadigova (Azerbaijan)

• Hana Furimoto-Deshayes (Canada) vs. Nina Kvasnikova (Slovakia)

Schedule of the 2025 World Championships

November 27:
Women — kata;
Men — 60 kg, 67 kg, 75 kg;
Women — 50 kg, 55 kg
Stage: up to Round of 16.

November 28:
Men — kata, 84 kg, +84 kg;
Women — 61 kg, 68 kg, +68 kg
Stage: up to Round of 16.

November 29–30:
Quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.