We are getting closer to the next World Championship, and as we like to do – a little rewind of previous finals. Some of the are seen many times, some has been given less attention – as always. In many tournaments the final it self becomes a little of a anticlimax – even so it is the World Championship final! Sometimes it can be a factor that the finalist maybe not are the one that the big crowd expected to be there. And the road to the final can also be a factor. Anyway a World Championship final is a final with a big F in our dictionary! We give six World Championship finals:
First out:
The 11th World Karate Championship Men Final Kenbu Iriki vs Yuji Shimamoto. Both highly merited – and these two meting each other in different kind of tournaments – has been a little more command that we knew at this World Championship final.
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Next one out:
The 10th World Karate Championship Tsutomu Murayama vs Norichika Tsukamoto
In this case the 6th World Champion Tsukamoto was sky-high favorite. Not “only” being the World Champion from 1996, but he had also tons of heavy merits from All Japan Open – and top places from the “World cup” now known as World Championship in weight categories. Murayama? well fresh of a All Japan Open runner up position.. against Tsukamoto of course. For many this final was a little anticlimax – especially with the spectacular semifinal Tsukamoto vs Nesterenko.
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The 9th World Karate Championship 2007 gave us a another set up in the final Donatas Imbras / Lithuania came up against Takayuki Tsukakoshi / Japan. Imbras was eager to revenge his loss from the meeting their had in 2005, in the World Cup. It’s fair to say that Donatas Imbras at that point had the capacity to break the chain of Japanese champions.
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In the 8th World Karate Championship 2003 the legend Kunihiro Suzuki once again fought his way to the World Championship final. (as he did 96 as well) Decent opponent for Suzuki safe to say, as the second contender was Yuichiro Osaka. Osaka being the heavier one of them – but Suzuki with the strongest merits.
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The 7th World Karate Championship 1999 we could see one of the finalist being from outsie Japan, Muzaffer Bacak / Germany. The razor sharp quick attack style of Bacak was of really top class. Japan defending the crown with Toru Okamoto. Okamoto did manage to take the 7th place in the previous World Championship, and was the runner up in the World Cup the year before.
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The 6th World Karate Championship 1996. The fought each other many times these two warriors, Norichika Tsukamoto and Kunihiro Suzuki. Both known all over the world, each for their own style and personality.
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