NSCI to host Gojukai karate-do world championship

Mumbai: Around 1,000 competitors from 32 countries will take part in the sixth Karate-Do Gojukai World Championship at the NSCI's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel indoor stadium in Worli from December 11 to 15.

This is the first time the quadrennial championship, to be organised by the All India Gojukai Karate-Do (AIGK) and supported by the Tata group, will be held in the country, it was announced at a media conference today.

This is also the first-ever world championship of any style of karate to be hosted in the country and Saiko Shihan Goshi Yamaguchi, the world-renowned global head of IKGA (International Karate-do Gojukai Association), will be overseeing the championship.

"It's our endeavour to promote karate in India. The championship has received excellent response from internationally ranked players and promises to showcase top-level competition in the true spirit of the sport," said Vispy Kapadia, founder-president of AIGK.

The championship would see contestants from countries like Japan, South Africa, the USA and Eastern Asian nations among others and the contestants would compete for winning positions in knock-out sessions.

The championship will host bouts under three categories -- kata, kumite and bunkei-kata-kumite -- to be performed both solo and in pairs-of-two under the appended categories.

The previous editions of the championships were held in Chiba Port Arena (1993), Brazil (1997), Australia (2001), Holland (2005) and South Africa (2009).