A total of 12 quota places were awarded today at karate’s qualification tournament for the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Umag in Croatia ©WKF

Japan’s Keisei Sakiyama was one of the six winners on the opening day of karate’s qualification tournament for the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG), claiming the men’s over 68 kilograms kumite gold medal in Umag in Croatia. 

Sakiyama beat Russia’s Robert Avakimov 1-0 in the final at the Sport Venue Hall Maria and Lino.

By reaching the gold medal match, both athletes obtained one quota place for Buenos Aires 2018.

This was the case for all today's events, which were referred to as phase one of the qualification system.

The men’s over 68kg bronze medals went to Belarus’ Hleb Sachkouski and Great Britain’s Brandon Edward Carr as they narrowly missed out on a place at this year's Games.

There was disappointment for Japan in the men’s under 68kg final, however, as Kotaro Nakamura fell to a 5-2 defeat against Ukraine’s Robert Shyroian.

Turkey’s Eren Akkurt and Malaysia’s Geerijaieswaran Pillai Sivanesan were the bronze medallists.

The other men’s final came in the under 61kg category and saw Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Alassiri overcome Jordan’s Abdallah Hammad 2-0.

Rounding out the podium were Turkey’s Ekrem Altuner Yilmaz and Russia’s Mikhail Poimtsev.

Among the winners in the women’s events was Russia’s Anna Chernysheva, who beat Iran’s Mobina Heydariozomcheloe 3-0 in the under 59kg final.

France’s Assia Oukhattou and Morocco’s Fatima-Zahra Chajai were the bronze medallists.

Russia were one of today's most successful nations ©WKF
Russia were one of today's most successful nations ©WKF

There were also victories for Thailand’s Aika Okazaki and Puerto Rico’s Janessa Michelle Fonseca Romero in the respective women’s under 53kg and over 59kg finals.

Okazaki defeated Egypt’s Yasmin Nasr Elgewily 6-3, while Fonseca Romero overcame Norway’s Annika Saelid 2-0.

The under 53kg bronze medals went to Iran’s Fatemeh Khonakdartarsi and Kazakhstan’s Aizere Toktagazy.

France’s Chaimae Zaoujal and Iran’s Negin Altooni were the over 59kg bronze medallists.

Phase two of the qualification system is scheduled for tomorrow and will again see the top two athletes in each weight category obtain one quota place.

This means that a total of four places per YOG category will be allocated through phases one and two.

The event, the first Olympic qualifier to be held in karate, features 325 athletes from around 90 countries.

Japan, Turkey, Britain, Greece, Denmark, Macedonia, Italy, Kazakhstan and Slovakia have already qualified athletes for Buenos Aires 2018 through ranking.

The event in Umag represents the last opportunity for other countries to qualify athletes for karate's Olympic Games debut.

Karate was added to the Buenos Aires 2018 programme in December 2016 and is due to make its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.