World Karate Championship 2021 | Indian contingent fails to bag a medal
The Indian karatekas failed miserably at theĀ World Karate Championship 2021 in Dubai, and did not make it to the medal rounds in their respective categories. A total of 17 karatekas competed in individual kumite, individual kata and team kumite events, with the menĀ taking partĀ team kata event only.
While kumite is the freeestyle form, kata has a set of prescribed movements only.
In the womenās individual kumite -- Amritpal Kaur (50kg), Jyoti Bisht (55kg), Deepika Dhiman (61kg) and Reetika (-68kg) -- all Indians competitors lost in the first round itself.
In the men's individual kumite,Ā Gaurav Sindhya (60kg) and Sudhir Sehrawat (+84kg)Ā progressed to the second round, while Pranay Sharma (67kg) reached the third before crashing out of the competition.
One of the karatekas, Sudhir Sehrawat went into theĀ repechage round as well, but lost 0-8 to Tokyo Olympian Daniyar Yuldashev of Kazakhstan. Lastly,Ā Manish (75kg) and Vishal (-84kg),Ā lost in the second round as well.Ā
In the men's team kumite, the Indians lost to Azerbaijan in the second round, after they got a bye in the first. In the women's kumite team, India lost to Austria, after getting a bye in the first round.
In the kata section, the likes of Priyanka Rami and Arka BanerjeeĀ were ousted in the second round of individual events.
Interestingly, India have never won a medal at theĀ Karate World Championship since the inaugural edition in 1970.