Paris (AFP)
Steven Da Costa has become the first French karateka to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the under 67 kg category, the French Karate Federation (FFK) said on Tuesday.
Crowned world champion in 2018, Steven Da Costa, 23, validated his ticket to the Olympic Games with his victory Sunday at the Dubai Open in the United Arab Emirates, which allows this commercial agent of the RER C d '' Avoid going through an Olympic qualification tournament.
"We are going to study Steven's upcoming program, which will take into account the accumulated fatigue, but also the fact that the Olympic tournament takes place in the form of pools and that there will be seeded seeds," explains Yann Baillon, director of the French teams, quoted in the FFK press release.
Karate will be present for the first time at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, as an additional sport, but this martial art codified in Okinawa (Japan) should not appear in the Olympic Games of Paris-2024, supplanted in particular in the program of the organizers by the break dance.
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