World Karate Federation

History

Karate was introduced to Europe around the 1950s by Japanese masters, mainly from the Japan Karate Association (JKA). In 1961, Jacques Delcourt was appointed President of French Karate Federation, which was at that stage an associated member of the French Judo Federation. In 1963 he invited the six other known European federations (Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Spain) to come to France for the first-ever international karate event, and Great Britain and Belgium accepted the invitation.{{cite book | editor1-first = Ramin | editor1-last = Kordi | editor2-first = Nicola | editor2-last = Maffulli | editor3-first = Randall R. | editor3-last = Wroble | editor4-first = W. Angus | editor4-last = Wallace| display-editors = 3 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Zwok7ECHn0wC&q=jacques+delcourt+1966+european+karate&pg=PA288 | access-date = 8 November 2014

In December of that year, six of the seven federations gathered in Paris, in what was to be the first European Karate Congress, with the aim of improving and organising karate tournaments between their countries. It was noted that the unification of the different karate styles was impossible, and so they decided to unify the refereeing.

By 1963 the European Karate Union was created, with Jacques Delcourt voted in as President. The following year the first European Karate Championships were held, in Paris.

In 1970, the International Karate Union (IKU) was formed by Jacques Delcourt in an effort to organise karate at the world level. Upon hearing this, Ryoichi Sasakawa, President of the Federation of All Japan Karatedo Organization (FAJKO), which later changed its name to the Japan Karate Federation (JKF), travelled to France to discuss the creation of an international governing body.{{cite web|url=http://www.wado-uk.com/documents/PDF's/WKF%20Political%20Document.pdf|title=Democracy, Karate & WKF Politics

In 1985 the World Union of Karate-do Organizations was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the official board for karate.

The integration of several new organizations during the 1990s saw WUKO membership increase to 150 National Federations. Therefore, a new name that would more accurately reflect the size and scope of the organization was needed. The name of the first International organization representing sport Karate was thus changed to World Karate Federation (WKF) on December 20, 1992.

The significant growth of WKF resulted in a consolidated organisation that fully represented the sport of Karate at the international level. This legitimacy was confirmed in 1999 when the IOC officially recognised the World Karate Federation as the sole governing body for the sport of Karate in the world.

In August 2016 it was announced Karate would be in the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Members

The global membership of the World Karate Federation stands at 200 national federation members, spanning five continents.

Continental federations

National federations

Competition and events

Kumite

• Individual kumite - Men's -60 kg, -67 kg, -75 kg, -84 kg and +84 kg Weight
• Individual kumite - Women's -50 kg, -55 kg, -61 kg, -68 kg and +68 kg Weight
• Team kumite - Men and Women

Kata

• Individual kata - Men and Women
• Team kata (synchronized) - Men and Women :team kata with bunkai

Para-Karate

• Athletes with Visual Impairments - Men and Women
• Athletes with Intellectual Impairments - Men and Women
• Wheelchair User - Men and Women Rules:

Guardian Girls Karate

Guardian Girls Karate (GGK) is a global project originally developed by the Koyamada International Foundation (KIF) and later transferred to Guardian Girls International. Launched in partnership with the WKF and UNFPA in October 2022 in Los Angeles, the project has been licensed to WKF since 2024 and is administered exclusively by the WKF and implemented locally through WKF’s authorized national federation members worldwide, in collaboration with GGI and KIF’s national chapters.

Other Events

References

References

1. "WUKO Blog | Blog WUKO – WKF". Wuko.net.
2. (28 May 2013). "Karate's pitch for the 2020 Olympics - OlympicTalk". Plympictalk.nbcsports.com.
3. "World Karate Federation - WKF History". Wkf-web.net.
4. Warnock, Eleanor. (2015-09-25). "Which Kind of Karate Has Olympic Chops?". WSJ.
5. CodexCoder. "World Karate Federation - The Book".
6. (2008). "Karate". New Holland.
7. "Final Report on the XXVIIth Olympiad". Olympic.org.
8. (2015-09-26). "World Karate Federation President Antonio Espinos Discusses the Olympic Dream - Japan Real Time - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com.
9. "Sports Shorts". Apnewsarchive.com.
10. (February 1976). "Black Belt February 1976".
11. Evans, J. K. (1988): "The battle for Olympic Karate recognition: WUKO vs. IAKF." ''Black Belt'', 26(2):54–58.
12. (June 1984). "Black Belt June 1984".
13. (2001). "Japanese Sports". University of Hawaii Press.
14. "World Karate Federation - The Book".
15. "World Karate Federation - The Book".
16. "IOC approves five new sports for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020". [[IOC]].
17. "Olympics: Baseball/softball, sport climbing, surfing, karate, skateboarding at Tokyo 2020". [[BBC]].
18. "Membership". World Karate Federation.
19. "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
20. "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
21. "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
22. "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
23. "WKF National Federation". World Karate Federation.
24. [https://www.wkf.net/pdf/WKF_Competition%20Rules_2020_EN.pdf Kata and Kumite Competition Rules], {{webarchive. link. (2 November 2020, on the WKF website)
25. "WKF joins KIF and UNFPA to combat Gender-Based Violence through ground-breaking project".
26. "World Karate Federation launches programme in Oceania to fight gender-based violence".
27. "Guardian Girls programme arrives in Riga".
28. https://www.wkf.net/other-events