In the summer of 2016, the International Olympic Committee announced the entry of karate to the program of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. That was a kind of momentum for the countries around the world to begin preparing their national teams for the qualifying competitions with tickets.
The most important aspect of preparations was the participation of athletes in international competitions. One of them was the recent tournament in a series of Karate1 Premier League – Open-de-Paris. It was attended by 1,247 participants from 79 countries. For Uzbekistan, that prestigious contest ended with a sensation: our Sadriddin Saimatov managed to climb to the highest step of the podium. This is the first victory in the history of Uzbek karate at this level of competition.
Performing in the weight category up to 60 kg, Saimatov in the finals beat the experienced Senthilkumar Selvarahu of Malaysia with a score of 6: 0. On his way to the gold medal, the Uzbek karateka overcame the silver medal winner – the world champion Jeffrey Behrens (Netherlands), the bronze medalist of the World Cup Sofjan Agujil (France) and former world champion Igor Ugnich (Ukraine).
The first results look rather encouraging. Who knows, perhaps karate will become another medal-rich Olympic sport for Uzbekistan?
