The Karate Union of Great Britain, or KUGB, is an association of Shotokan Karate clubs and Karateka operating across Great Britain, with some oversea affiliations. The 1960s saw a growth in the popularity of Karate, and the KUGB was founded in 1966 to be a democratic, not-for-profit organisation, and was the first single style organisation within the UK. Many other British Shotokan Karate organisations have since formed after splitting from the KUGB. The KUGB is currently affiliated to the European Shotokan Karate Association (ESKA) and the World Shotokan Karate Association (WSKA).
Seydina Baldé is a French actor and martial artist. He has been Europe and World Karate Champion.
Philip S. Porter was a martial artist in the United States.
Takayuki Mikami is a Japanese master of Shotokan karate based in the United States of America. He holds the rank of 9th dan black belt in the art, awarded under the Japan Karate Association. In 1958, Mikami tied for first place in the All Japan Karate Championships. The following year, he became the All Japan champion in kumite (sparring) as well as kata (patterns). In 1961, Mikami won first place in kata again. He was also the first person to graduate from the Japan Karate Association's (JKA) instructor training program instituted by Gichin Funakoshi and Masatoshi Nakayama.
Antonio José Díaz Fernández is a Venezuelan karateka. He is best known for winning gold medals in kata at the World Championships in Serbia (2010) and France (2012), winning of the World Games in Cali, Colombia (2013), and Duisburg, Germany (2015), and a silver medal in the World Championships in Japan 2008. He won bronze medals at the WKF World Championships in karate in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2014, and 2016 in the men's individual kata. He has also won 23 Pan American Karate Federation Senior Championships Medals 23 times to date.
Arnela Odžaković is a Bosnian karateka and sportswoman of the year in 2007.
Elisa Au is an American martial arts instructor and karate practitioner.
James Yabe is a Japanese-American martial arts instructor, and author. One of the oldest students of Hidetaka Nishiyama starting in 1961, Yabe is considered one of the great instructors of Japanese traditional Shotokan Karate.
Paul Noel Starling is an Australian martial artist renowned as a Gōjū-ryū Karate master. He was the most senior Caucasian student of Gōjū-ryū Gogen Yamaguchi, and is a world Vice President of the International Karate do Goju Kai Association (IKGA)
María Dimitrova is a Bulgarian born, Dominican martial artist who practices karate.
Atsuko Wakai is a Japanese practitioner of karate who has won many international and Japanese national competitions in kata (patterns), including unprecedented numbers of consecutive titles in World Karate Federation (WKF) and All Japan Karatedo championships. She holds the rank of 6th dan black belt from the Japan Karatedo Federation (JKF), training in Seigokan Goju-ryu karate.
José Martins Achiam (1944–2008) was a Portuguese born in Macau.
Jasem Vishkaei is an Iranian karateka. Vishkaei competed in the 2006 Asian Games in the 75 kg division and won the gold medal. He also won the gold medal in 2010 Asian Games.
Kathleen Murphy, known as Katie Murphy, is an American martial artist. She is a twenty-two time World Champion in karate, a fifteen-time U.S. National Champion, and a ten-time New York State Champion.
Seiji Nishimura, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan) he is a Japanese karateka. He has a 7th.Dan black belt in Wadō-ryū karate and is the national trainer of the Japan Karatedo Federation (JKF).
Cheryl Murphy is an American martial artist. She is a member of Team USA and a current Shotokan Karate fighter. She is stated to be a world class competition kumite competitor.
John Fonseca is a former American karateka most known for being the first karate athlete in the world to win repeat gold medals at the Pan American Games, first American to medal at the Karate World Championships in almost 16 years (kumite), and first American to win the Paris Open in more than 30 years.
Saeid Hassanipour Sefatazgomi is an Iranian karateka. He started karate with his brother (Vahid) in 1995 at Rasht Electric Club under the supervision of Hossein Navidi. He started karate with SKI Shotokan style and played in Electric Club for five years, and then joined Yadegar-e Emam Club for an active presence in the world of the championship to work under Massoud Rahnama. Hassanipour won his first official international medal in Cyprus in 2005, winning the gold medal at the global campaigns, and South Korea's Incheon was the only Gilani gold medalist at the Asian Games.
Cherupalli Vivek Teja is an Indian martial artist. He has been a martial arts fighter for 19 years. Cherupalli is the founder of the Human Weapon International, a self-defense training organization. Vivek Teja Cherupalli claims that he has trained more than 19,000 women in the art of self-defense. The 27-year-old Cherupalli, who has Judd Reid as his coach, is also training to be a light heavyweight (75 kg) category boxer.
