Refugees given more opportunities to compete in Karate

Refugee athletes will be allowed to enter more top level international competitions following a decision from the World Karate Federation (WKF) Executive Committee. Under the new framework, refugee athletes will be eligible to enter two of the sport’s top competition series.

The Karate 1-Premier League and Karate 1-Series A will now be open to refugee athletes, who will compete under the WKF flag. The conditions of their participation in the two competition series will be the same conditions in place for participation at the world championships.

Refugee athletes have competed at the WKF World Championships since 2016. Two refugee athletes were also invited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete in karate when the sport made its debut at the Olympic Games during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games. However, participation in other major international events has been limited until now.

In tandem with the decision of the WKF Executive Committee, the European Karate Federation (EKF) has opened up participation in the EKF Championships to refugee athletes as well. Refugee entries will be limited to one athlete per category, and they will compete under the EKF flag.

The decisions of the EKF and WKF Executive Committees represent a greater push to include refugee athletes in international sports. Refugee athletes were first allowed to compete at the Olympic Games as a separate delegation under the IOC flag in 2016. Twenty-nine refugee athletes competed at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, nearly triple the number who participated at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games