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Karate

The History of Karate in FISU

France always wishes to be a pioneer. It was its university sports association, FFSU, which staged the first archery WUC in 1996. In 1998, the FFSU came forward with the organisation of the first World University Karate Championship. Several considerations prompted FFSU to stage this championship. Firstly, this sport has always had sheer popularity in France, with its more than 200,000 licensed adherents. Secondly, it was out of consideration for France's best karate record-holders. And finally, FFSU received the absolute backing of the French Karate Federation, with which it has excellent relations. So, with an elaborate organisation, France welcomed 238 athletes from 31 countries. This first World University Karate Championship had a tremendous success, both in terms of number of participants and organisation level. Indeed, all the athletes present had to fight hard to win selection by distinguishing themselves in their national junior and/or senior championships. The second edition of the World University Karate Championship was staged in Kyoto, Japan, in 2000, in which 36 countries participated. The event was organised by the National Sports Federation of Japan. The great success of participation and the high level of the competition opened up new possibilities for this sport within FISU. Enormous interest took world university karate to the highest position with respect to the number of participants. In the 2006 edition staged in New York, USA, the record of participating countries was broken. This time 42 countries from all over the world were there. This record was broken once again in 2010 in Podgorica, Montenegro, which welcomed 378 karatekas from 44 countries for an excellent championship.

FISU Regulations

The karate competition has its own FISU Regulations following the most recent rules of the World Karate Federation (WKF). The FISU Regulations are always set up on the recommendation of the FISU Technical Chair and the WKF Technical Delegate in close cooperation with the Committee for Sports Regulations, and approved by the FISU Executive Committee. In principle, the programme shall last four (4) days and include the events below.
The countries participating in the karate competitions with more than five (5) competitors must bring with their delegation and at their own cost one (1) World umpire WKF.

Each country is authorised to enter a maximum of five (5) officials and eighteen (18) competitors (9 men, 9 women as follow:

KUMITE

Individual events: one (1) competitor in each category
Team events:
- Team competitions for Men: a team is composed of a maximum of seven (7) competitors and a minimum of five (5) competitors
- Team competitions for Women: a team is composed of a maximum of four (4) competitors and a minimum of three (3) competitors

KATA

Individual events: one (1) competitor
Team events: three (3) competitors

Team events will be held after the individual events.

Kumite	Kata
Individual Events	Men and Women
Men: bouts duration three (3) minutes, for semi-finals and finals duration four (4) minutes / -60 kg, -67 kg, -75 kg, -84 kg, +84 kg	Individual Events
Women: bouts duration two (2) minutes, for semi-finals and finals bouts duration three (3) minutes / -50 kg, -55 kg, -61 kg, -68 kg, +68 kg	Team Events
Team Events

Minimum Requirements for Karate

The Organising Committee must provide, for exclusive use, suitable sports halls to accommodate the karate competition as approved by the karate CT. The WKF regulations must be followed.

Competition Facilities

Type of Venue	Numbr of Venues	Changing Room Competitors	Changing Room TOJR	Spectator Seating	Press and Media Seating
Indoor Arena	1	Gender Segregation	X	1,000	100

The competition hall must be big enough to accommodate a minimum of 4 mats in correspondence with the international competition norms
The competition hall and annexes must be protected against unauthorised intrusion by a system of passes, controlled by an official security service
Two electronic scoreboards visible throughout the competition hall
A display system for competitors’ names
Stand-by manual and scoring facilities
A gong or another audible system, which must be separate for each mat
Various flags required by the WKF refereeing rules
A public address system (microphone), which may be connected to those of the other mats, but must be distinct from that of the official table

Annexes to the Competition Hall