The Malta Judo Federation hosted the eighth edition of World Kata Judo Championships on the 1st and 2nd of October.
Attended by teams from 32 world countries, the sportive event was held in five official kata divisions. Iran, however, had deployed only one team to the tournament since visa was not issued for 12 national athletes.
Competing in Kodokan-Goshin Jutsu category, Mohammad Hassan Salari and Mohammad Reza Sahraei formed Iran’s only outfit at the event. The Iranian squad held contest against teams from 16 other states in the first round on Sunday.
Iranian judoka earned 562 points in the preliminary round to land second behind Japan and secure a place in the finals. Salari and Sahraei faced six other teams in the final stage and finished vice-champion with a total of 565 points.
Japan won the title while Italy, Spain, France and Portugal landed third to sixth after Iran.
Also, Mohammad Reza Akhgar and Gholamreza Saberinejad were Iranian judges present at the tournament who offered excellent performances. Akhgar umpired the final round of Kodokan-Goshin Jutsu along with four other judges.
Iran’s other judo practitioners in Nage-no-Kata, Katame-no-Kata, Ju-no-Kata and Kime-no-Kata divisions failed to take part in the Kata World Championships due to via issues.
IJF Kata World Championships was held in Tal-Qroqq University Sports Hall of Msida in Malta on October 01-02.
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