TEHRAN – International Shotokan Karate competition will be held in Kelardasht city, Mazandaran Province, Iran, according to a provincial official.
Hassan Rajabi said that the International Shotokan Karate Tournament will begin on Wednesday, October 12, with the participation of 7 foreign teams and five Iranian teams in Kelardasht, Mazandaran Province.
The countries present in the tournament are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, India, Iraq, Erbil, and Georgia, he added.
Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing ‘karate do’ through a series of public demonstrations, and by promoting the development of university karate clubs.