KARATE TEAM CONCLUDES ASIAN CHAMPS WITH 25 MEDALS

Jordan Karate fighters made the most of home advantage to win 25 medals at the 24th Asian Cadet, Junior, and U21 Karate Championship, hosted at the Arena Hall in Al-Hussein Youth City.
Jordan finished in third in the overall medal standings with a tally of seven gold, two silver and 16 bronze medals, while Iran topped the standings with a total of 31 medals (11 gold, 12 silver, eight bronze), with Saudi Arabia in second after winning 23 in total total (eight gold, six silver, nine bronze).
Waleed Qatamesh was the last to be crowned with the gold medal in the -75kg category during today’s U21 competitions, an age category that also saw medals for Balsam Al-Saaida (silver in -55kg), Suhaib Samour (silver in -84kg), Nazmi Athlhamad (bronze in -55kg), Ahmad Hani (bronze in -60kg), Raed Hamzah (bronze in +84kg) and Yara Nasser (bronze in +68kg).
In Tuesday’s cadet category, Jordan won two gold medals through Mustafa Al-Najjar (-57kg) and Tariq Ahmad Al-Hoot (-70kg), and seven bronze medals by Ayham Afaneh (kata), Reeham Al-Jahran (-47kg), Shiraz Khaled (-61kg), Hala Nasser (+61kg), Mustafa Abdel-Rahman (-63kg) and Mohammad Al-Jowhari (-70kg). There was also bronze for the cadet and junior female kata squad (Jood Abu Khadijah, Lemar Sababha, Mayar Sababha).
In Wednesday’s Junior category, there were four gold medals for Hala Ghaneim (-59kg), Mohammad Al-Najjar (-61kg), Lara Darwish (+66kg) and Hatem Al-Harashees (-68kg), while five athletes earned bronze medals: Layan Al-Saeed (-53kg), Lana Ahmad (-66kg), Rayan Qatnani (-76kg), Qassim Al-Omari (+76kg) and Fares Al-Awayseh (U21 individual kata).
A total of 338 fighters took part from 30 countries.