Karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

This article details the qualifying phase for karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics. 80 quota places for the Games are entitled to the karatekas coming from their respective NOCs, based on the results at designated tournaments supervised by World Karate Federation. Each NOC could enter a maximum of eight karatekas (one in each division). Host nation Japan has reserved a spot in each of all 8 events, while four are made available to NOCs through a Tripartite Commission Invitation.

Summary

The 10 competitors in each event qualify as follows:

• 1 from the host nation, Japan
• 4 from the Olympic Standing ranking of 6 April 2020
• 3 from a qualification tournament
• 2 from continental representation or Tripartite Commission invitation

Because the World Karate Federation rankings are based on five weight classes instead of the three weight classes featured in the 2020 Olympics, some of the Olympic events are based on a combination of two WKF classes. In those cases, the top 2 from each of the WKF classes qualify for the combined Olympic class (for a total of 4). Where the Olympic class matches the WKF class, the top 4 in that class qualify.

The qualification tournament features the same weight classes as the Olympic weight classes. Only NOCs that have not qualified through Olympic standing for a given division are eligible to enter an athlete in the qualification tournament. The top three finishers in each division at the qualification tournament qualify for the Olympics.

A total of 12 quota places, distributed among the eight events, are available through continental representation. The selection order is as follows:

• Oceania, 2 spots (1 per gender)
• Africa, 2 spots (1 per gender)
• Americas, 2 spots (1 per gender)
• Asia, 2 spots (1 per gender)
• Europe, 2 spots (1 per gender)
• Africa, 1 spot (either gender)
• Americas, 1 spot (the other gender)

For each continent, all of the gold medalists at the continental games are considered together. The highest-ranked among this group earns the qualification spot unless that competitor is already qualified or otherwise cannot be selected without violating any of the following limitations: 10 athletes per division, 1 athlete per NOC per division, 2 athletes per NOC through continental representation (affecting only Africa and the Americas). If the highest-ranked gold medalist cannot be entered, then the next-highest ranked gold medalist qualifies if possible. This process goes through all gold medalists by ranking, then all silver medalists by ranking, then all bronze medalists by ranking until the continent's qualifying spots are filled. If none of the medalists can be entered, the highest-ranked eligible athlete from that continent in the rankings (regardless of finish at the continental games) qualifies.

The final four quota spots will be assigned through Tripartite Commission invitation.

NOC	Men				Women				Total
	67 kg	75 kg	+75 kg	Kata	55 kg	61 kg	+61 kg	Kata
Japan	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	8
Total: 1 NOCs	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	8

Timeline

Event	Date	Venue
2018 Asian Games	August 18 – September 2, 2018	Jakarta
2019 European Games	June 21–30, 2019	Minsk
2019 Pacific Games	July 8–20, 2019	Apia
2019 Pan American Games	July 26 – August 11, 2019	Lima
2019 African Games	August 19–31, 2019	Rabat
WKF Olympic Standings	April 6, 2020	–
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	May 8–10, 2020	Paris

Men's events

67 kg

Section	Places	NOC	Qualified karateka
Host nation	1	Japan	Naoto Sago
WKF Olympic Standings (60 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	2	Kazakhstan	Darkhan Assadilov
		Italy	Angelo Crescenzo
WKF Olympic Standings (67 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	2	France	Steven Dacosta
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	3
Continental places	0–2
Tripartite Commission	0–2
Total	10

75 kg

Section	Places	NOC	Qualified karateka
Host nation	1	Japan	Ken Nishimura
WKF Olympic Standings (75 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	4	Iran	Bahman Asgari
		Italy	Luigi Busa
		Azerbaijan	Rafael Aghayev
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	3
Continental places	0–2
Tripartite Commission	0–2
Total	10

+75 kg

Section	Places	NOC	Qualified karateka
Host nation	1	Japan	Ryutaro Araga
WKF Olympic Standings (84 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	2	Turkey	Ugur Aktas
WKF Olympic Standings (+84 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	2
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	3
Continental places	0–2
Tripartite Commission	0–2
Total	10

Kata

Section	Places	NOC	Qualified karateka
Host nation	1	Japan	Ryo Kiyuna
WKF Olympic Standings (as of 6 April 2020)	4	Spain	Damián Quintero
		Turkey	Ali Sofuoğlu
		Venezuela	Antonio Díaz
		Italy	Mattia Busato
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	3
Continental places	0–2
Tripartite Commission	0–2
Total	10

Women's events

55 kg

Section	Places	NOC	Qualified karateka
Host nation	1	Japan	Miho Miyahara
WKF Olympic Standings (50 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	2	Turkey	Serap Ozcelik
WKF Olympic Standings (55 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	2	Ukraine	Anzhelika Terliuga
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	3
Continental places	0–2
Tripartite Commission	0–2
Total	10

61 kg

Section	Places	NOC	Qualified karateka
Host nation	1	Japan
WKF Olympic Standings (61 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	4	China	Xiaoyan Yin
		Egypt	Giana Lotfy
		Turkey	Merve Coban
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	3
Continental places	0–2
Tripartite Commission	0–2
Total	10

+61 kg

Section	Places	NOC	Qualified karateka
Host nation	1	Japan	Ayumi Uekusa
WKF Olympic Standings (68 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	2	Azerbaijan	Irina Zaretska
WKF Olympic Standings (+68 kg) (as of 6 April 2020)	2	Iran	Hamideh Abbasali
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	3
Continental places	0–2
Tripartite Commission	0–2
Total	10

Kata

Section	Places	NOC	Qualified karateka
Host nation	1	Japan	Kiyou Shimizu
WKF Olympic Standings (as of 6 April 2020)	4	Spain	Sandra Sanchez
		Italy	Viviana Bottaro
World Olympic Qualification Tournament	3
Continental places	0–2
Tripartite Commission	0–2
Total	10