The 17th edition of Asian Karate Federation Cadet, Junior and U21 Karate Championships wrapped up on Saturday with Iranian juniors clinching first place of the tournament in kumite category in Okinawa, Japan.
The reigning champion, Iran topped the medal ranking of the division with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals, ISNA reported.
The first medal was grabbed by Morteza Karimi when he beat the Taiwanese rival in the repecharge game to win bronze in -52kg class.
Hossein Khedri clinched the second medal after overcoming a Saudi rival in the final of -57kg to win the first gold.
In the -63kg, Erfan Davoudi took a strong step by defeating his rival from Hong Kong 8-0 in the first match and later in a breath-taking final he downed the Japanese karateka 3-2 to take gold.
First silver winner Kamran Basiri, lost the final competition to a Kazakh rival to settle in second place of the -70kg category. Hossein Esmaeili also won bronze in the +70kg class as the last medal winner in kumite division for Iran.
One and only medal for the individual kata delegation went to Matin Zare as he finished third to win a bronze medal.
In the women’s division, Masoumeh Hosseinian won gold in -47kg category. Zeinab-Sadat Hosseini picked the bronze in individual kata division.
The results presented the nation with the first place of kumite category for junior boys. Kazakhstan and Malaysia tied the second place with one gold and one silver each.
In the total medal count for both male and female divisions, Japan finished first with three golds as well as three silvers and two bronzes. Iran with three gold, one silver and four bronzes took the second place and Kazakhstan finished third.
A total of 385 karatekas form 25 countries attended the tournament from May 10-13 in Okinawa.
