“I have worked hard for many years to officiate at Olympics and now I’m happy for being among 14 invited referees to Tokyo,” Salimi told Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.
He said that as every athlete dreams of competing in the Olympics, referees, too, long for officiating at the most important sports event of the world.
Karate will make its debut appearance at the Summer Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
“This first [debut of karate in Olympics] may also be the last but officiating at the event is of grave importance,” he said.
Salimi, who is a member of the Referee Commission of the World Karate Federation (WKF), will officiate in the Games along with 13 other referees. He has officiated in many international events and one of the most recent was the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games.
Salimi added that all the invited referees must participate in six workshops to receive required training with the first one to be held in January.
Olympic karate will feature two events, Kumite and Kata. Sixty competitors from around the world will compete in the Kumite competition and twenty will compete in the Kata competition.
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