Karate (空手), also karate-do, is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane. Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and open-hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands, and palm-heel strikes. Historically, and in some modern styles, grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints, and vital-point strikes are also taught. A karate practitioner is called a karate-ka (空手家).
Taekwondo, also spelled tae kwon do or taekwon-do, is a Korean martial art involving punching and kicking techniques. The literal translation for taekwondo is "kicking", "punching", and "the art or way of". It sometimes involves the use of weapons.
Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" through a series of public demonstrations, and by promoting the development of university karate clubs, including those at Keio, Waseda, Hitotsubashi (Shodai), Takushoku, Chuo, Gakushuin, and Hosei.
Malaysia competed in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. The country was represented by 244 athletes competing in 23 of the 39 sports provided. Among the popular sports were aquatics, athletics, badminton, bodybuilding, bowling, cycling, hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, kabaddi, karate-do, sepak takraw, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wushu. Athletes from Malaysia won overall 42 medals, and clinched the eleventh spot in the medal table. Abdullah Sani Karim was the chief of the delegation.
Yun Ok-hee is a South Korean archer, who won the gold medal in the team and a silver in the individual competition at the 2006 Asian Games and is a former world number one.
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.
Karate was competed by men and women at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. Kata was contested along with Kumite. There were 11 gold medals contested for this sport. All competition took place at the Yangsan College Gymnasium on October 11 and 12. Each country was limited to having 5 athletes.
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.
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's seventeenth appearance at the Olympics. The Korean Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest ever delegation to the Games in Olympic history since 1984. A total of 205 athletes, 103 men and 101 women, competed in 24 sports.
Bimala Tamang is a (Nepalese) Nepali female karateka who recently won bronze for the Women's Individual Kata at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. This was Nepal's first and only medal tallied at the 2014 Games.
Ali Sofuoğlu is a Turkish karateka competing in the kata. He is a member of Kağıthane Belediyesi S.K.
South Korea participated in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia from 18 August to 2 September 2018. It was the 18th appearance of the country at the Asian Games, except the first edition in Delhi. As one of the best competitors at the Games, South Korea's best achievement was in the 2002 Busan, with the acquisition of 96 gold, 80 silver and 84 bronze medals. At the latest edition in 2014 Incheon, the country had collected 79 gold, 71 silver, and 84 bronze medals.
Sakura Kokumai is an American karateka. She won the gold medal in the women's individual kata event at the 2019 Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru. She represented the United States in the women's kata event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Kiyou Shimizu is a Japanese karateka competing in the women's kata event. She won the silver medal in the women's kata event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She is also a two-time gold medalist at the World Karate Championships and a three-time gold medalist at the Asian Games.
Ryo Kiyuna is an Okinawan karateka. He won the gold medal in the men's kata event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He is also a four-time gold medalist in the men's kata event at the World Karate Championships and a two-time gold medalist in the men's team kata event, alongside Arata Kinjo and Takuya Uemura. He has also won multiple gold medals in both the individual and team kata events at the Asian Karate Championships.
Yin Xiaoyan is a Chinese karateka. She won the silver medal in the women's 61 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. At the 2018 World Karate Championships in Madrid, Spain, she won the silver medal in the women's kumite 61 kg event.
Sou Soi Lam is a Macau karateka. She won the silver medal in the women's kata event at the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia. In the same year, she also competed in the women's individual kata event at the 2018 World Karate Championships held in Madrid, Spain.
Grace Lau Mo-sheung is a Hong Kong karateka. She won bronze in the women’s kata event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, becoming the first Hong Kong athlete to win an Olympic medal in karate. She is a bronze medallist in the women's individual kata event at the World Karate Championships, the Asian Games and the World Beach Games. She is also a six-time medalist, including gold, at the Asian Karate Championships.
Shahida Abbasi is a Pakistani karateka. She is the first Pakistani woman to compete internationally in kata.
Orencio James Virgil "OJ" De los Santos is a Filipino karate practitioner who competes in kata events. He has competed in the Asian Games and the Southeast Asian Games.
