National karatekas grab 16 gold medals in Turkey

By Azernews

By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Azerbaijani karate fighters have once again gained great success abroad. At Black and Caspian Sea Countries Karate Championships 2019, which has been held in Rize, Turkey, they won 47 medals, of which 16 are gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze.

Karate fighters from the World Karate Federation (WKF) member countries, including Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, fought for medals at the Championships.

In the medal standings, the Azerbaijani team took second place, following the Turkish team. Azerbaijani karatekas won medals both in junior age categories and in veterans category.

The National Karate Federation of Azerbaijan, founded in 1994, became a full member of the World Karate Federation in 1997. WKF is the largest and most powerful karate organization in the world, comprising 183 countries and more than 50 million members. In 1996, the National Karate Federation joined the European Karate Federation (EKF).

WKF is the only karate federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee, whose main objective is to combine the basic style of karate under the general rules of the competition and enter into the program of the Olympic Games.

Over the past few years, Azerbaijani karate athletes have many times been the winners of the prestigious international tournaments, European and World Championships.

Currently, such karate stars as the repeated World and European Champion, winner of the World Games Rafael Agayev, World Champions Israfil Shirinov, Aykhan Mamayev, Europe Champions Parviz Abdulkarimov, Jeyhun Aghasiyev, Rustam Madatov, Fayyaz Ildirimzade, Niyazi Aliyev and Asiman Gurbanli, bronze medalists of European Championship Amal Atayev, Yusif Jafarov, Shahin Atamov, Rashad Huseynov and Ilaha Gas?mova are member of the national team.