Karate will make its debut appearance at the Summer Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. 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. Rwanda Karate Federation (Ferwaka) president Theogene Uwayo has bemoaned the qualification process for the world’s biggest sporting event as ‘very complicated’, observing that it will be very hard for any Rwandan player to make it to Tokyo. “The karate qualification to Tokyo 2020 is complicated because it will largely be based on world rankings, which will take into account some of the biggest karate tournaments in the world as well as quotas allocated for each continent,” Uwayo told Times Sport yesterday. According to World Karate Federation (WKF), there is only place for 80 people to compete in Tokyo in 34 Kata and 34 in Kumite – 50/50 male/female. The host country will have eight spots while four tickets will be given away on invitation. Among other tournaments that will offer tickets to Tokyo 2020 include this year’s World Karate Championships scheduled for October 25-29 in Spain and the 2019 All-Africa Games. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
