IRNA – Iran’s Karate teams in various age groups replaced Japan as World Champion wining 20 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze medals.


The 1th Asian Adults, Junior and U-21 Karate Championship Competitions were attended by 660 athletes from 27 countries and was held in Astana, Kazakhstan, for four days.

Japan stood behind Iran with 16 gold, eight silver and 14 bronze medals while the host Kazakhstan came third with eight gold, six silver and 13 bronze medals.

Saudi Arabia and Indonesia ranked fourth and fifth respectively in the competitions.

Since 2011, Japan stood first in the past three rounds of Asian Karate Championship Competitions and Iran came second but this time Iran overtook Japan with the highest number of medals.