Lau Mo Sheung Grace wins historic ladies’s kata gold, delivering the first-ever ladies’s title and second total medal of Hong Kong, China in World Games historical past.
CHENGDU, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — Lau Mo Sheung Grace of Hong Kong, China claimed the ladies’s kata gold in karate on the 2025 World Games right here on Friday, delivering the Hong Kong delegation’s first gold in Chengdu and solely its second within the World Games historical past – and its first-ever in a ladies’s occasion.
Lau’s flawless 45.3-point routine beat Japan’s Maho Ono for silver and Spain’s Paola Gacia Lozano for bronze.
“This gold medal was a promise to my grandmother, who passed away two weeks ago,” stated the 33-year-old. “This world title makes it real – I am a world champion now.”
In the lads’s kata last, Japan’s Kakeru Nishiyama took gold forward of America’s Ariel Torres Gutierrez, with Alessio Ghinami of Italy incomes bronze.
Drama struck within the ladies’s kumite -55kg semifinals when China’s Wei Yuchun noticed a 9-1 lead over Ukraine’s Anzhelika Terliuga erased after a profitable protest. The match was restarted from Terliuga’s authentic 1-0 lead, and Wei ultimately misplaced, ending fourth. Germany’s Mia Bitsch went on to win gold, beating Terliuga, whereas Chile’s Valentina Toro Meneses claimed bronze.
“Having all nine points stripped and restarting from 1-0 down – I’ve never experienced this,” Wei stated, including that she was nonetheless happy with outscoring the defending champion. “She was my idol as a child, and now I believe I can beat her.”
Also on Friday, Iran’s Sara Bahmanyar upset world No. 1 Moldir Zhangbyrbay of Kazakhstan for the ladies’s kumite -50kg gold, with Croatia’s Ema Sgardeli taking bronze.
In the lads’s kumite -60kg division, Turkey’s Eray Samdan beat Japan’s Hiromu Hashimoto for gold, and Greece’s Christos Xenos secured bronze.
Morocco’s Said Oubaya beat Japanese Yugo Kozaki within the males’s kumite -67kg last to take gold, and Abdel Rahman Tayel Hayel Almasatfa of Jordan pocketed bronze.