Karate World Cup: France name 17 athletes for Hangzhou

France will send 17 karateka to the Karate World Cup, the national team competition held in Hangzhou, China, from 20 to 22 November. The national selection committee published the list on 23 October. Qualified in three of the four events, France will have no men's kata team.

Five women and eight men in kumite

The women's kumite team is Monica Arzumian, Zéra Jade Ozserttas, Chloé Payrot, Clémence Péa and Thalya Sombé.

The men's team has eight fighters, four of them from AAS Sarcelles: Kilian Cizo, Hendrick Confiac, Iliès Elguir and Ryan Gari. Issa Lardjoum, Thanh-Liêm Lê, Younesse Salmi and Adam Tadjer complete the squad. Six of the eight come from clubs in the Val-d'Oise department, north of Paris.

A women's kata team

In kata, the team is Maï-Linh Bui, Louise Capet, Léa Séveran and Julia Vilanova. In team kata, three athletes perform the same kata in sync; in the final and medal bouts they also show the bunkai, the application of the movements against partners. The fourth athlete is the reserve.

The World Karate Federation draw on 20 October has already set the pools. In team kumite, each match is decided over several individual bouts, three for women and five for men, and the nation with more wins takes the match.

A new world event

The Karate World Cup is open only to national teams, unlike the Karate 1 Premier League and Series A stops, which are individual tournaments. It comes a month after the cadet, junior and U21 World Championships, where France won eight medals, including titles for Maryam Echamaa and Morgane Scarfone.