The 20th edition of the Open Karate Premier League of Paris will be held in Paris from January 22nd to January 24th 2016.
So far, a total of 853 karate practitioners from 50 world countries have registered to take part in the three-day event among which the names of 30 Iranian karateka can be observed in Kata and Kumite categories.
Of the 30 Iranian athletes, 21 men and 9 women are seeking to get a visa to Paris while the Iranian Karate Federation has only funded the members of the national team.
Prominent Iranian karateka to participate in the tournament include Mehdizadeh, Ahmadi, Askari, Pourshib, Gangzadeh, Hassan Beigi, Abbasali as well as Barzegar.
The Iranian squad will be led by Alireza Soleimani and the athletes will probably leave Tehran for Paris in late February.
The Karate1 WKF Premier League is the prime league event in the world of Karate and Together with the WKF Karate1 World Cup (WWC), they form a series of world class Karate competitions recognized and supported by the World Karate Federation (WKF) aiming to bring together the best Karate competitors in the world in a series of open championships of unprecedented scale and quality.
HA/3020007