How Do The New Wkf Competition Rules Work? (2023)
With karate’s participation in the Olympics, the WKF has decided to make some rule changes to make karate tournaments more exciting, the most recent of which is the Round-Robin format.
Table of Contents
Round-Robin format
Round-Robin is a new elimination format that is currently only present in Premier Leagues where the number of competitors is limited (32) for each karate category.
The 32 competitors are divided into 8 groups of 4 athletes who compete against each other, drawing up a ranking for each group.
There will be ONLY ONE WINNER in each group, who will form a board of eight contenders with the other seven winners to compete in the quarter-finals.
The ranking for each group will be decided by the number of points obtained:
Kumite
3 Points – Win
1 Point – Draw with points scored (1-1,2-2,3-3 etc)
0 Points – Draw with no points (0-0)
0 Points – Defeat
Kata:
3 Points – Win
0 Points – Defeat
Explanation
The following figure illustrates the competition format for a competition with ten participants:
More chances to show themselves off?
With this new competition system, all athletes will have the opportunity to compete in AT LEAST three matches / kata which will become 6 to win the competition.
The kata can be repeated, but not in a round-robin group, and only once for each kata.
Conclusion
This is the new match system established by the WKF to make the Premier League Karate competitions more exciting.
What are your thoughts on the Round-Robin format? Do you believe it can work for a long time?
