Source: https://www.karateyouthleague.com
KARATE, 4,200 ATHLETES FROM 72 NATIONS IN JESOLO: IT’S A WORLD RECORD
The Youth League Venice 2023, hosted in Jesolo Dec. 7-10, enters the Guinness Book. Organized by Multisport Veneto, a Noale-based company and European leader in organizing karate events. More than 10,000 people are expected, on the tatami also 1,000 coaches. Davide Benetello of Fijlkam: “It will be a historic event, proud to spread the culture of this sport.”
Jesolo at the center of the karate world with the Venice Youth League, hosted from December 7 to 10 in Piazza Brescia at the Palazzo del Turismo. A competition of international caliber in which more than four thousand athletes, divided into various categories, will fight and perform in the wonderful forms of Kata, a series of codified movements that represent various fighting techniques in a way that highlights their founding principles and opportunities for optimal execution.
In detail, on Wednesday 6 the accreditation phase is scheduled, on Thursday 7 the Under-21 competition will kick off, on Friday 8 on the tatami the juniors, the next day the cadets, and on Sunday the under-14 medals will be awarded.
The event is highly anticipated: it will be, globally, the most attended Youth League ever. Already 4,200 athletes are registered, who will be accompanied by 1,000 coaches representing 830 clubs from 72 nations. The previous record was 3,670 athletes, registered last year also in Jesolo, a seaside town experiencing a second tourist season: on the Immaculate Conception weekend it will be invaded by more than ten thousand people, including families and accompanying persons, who will enjoy a weekend of sports and entertainment. There would have been other requests, but the organization cannot go any further due to the limits imposed in category by the World Karate Federation.
To organize Multisport Veneto, a company founded in 2016 as the operational arm of Asi Karate Veneto Centro Karate Noale, an association founded in 1974 and affiliated with the Fijlkam, to deal with all organizational aspects of sporting events in general and the Youth League in particular. Asi Karate Veneto, founded by the late Professor Lino Vardiero and now presided over by his son, Master Vladi Vardiero, is one of the most titled associations at the national level for the numerous competitive results obtained by its athletes in almost half a century of activity.
Multisport Veneto has curated the Venice Cup Karate editions from 2016 to the present. It has a dozen events to its credit with a total attendance of over 14,000 athletes in four years. To highlight the organizational capacity of the Venetians, it suffices to mention the attendance figures for the Youth Leagues in recent years. In 2018 in Sofia, Bulgaria, there were 1,878 athletes and in Umag, Croatia; in Caorle the same year 2,652 from 67 different nations. The following year, in Jesolo, here were 3,190 athletes from 65 nations, part of 737 different clubs. In the same year, 2,501 in Croatia and 1,497 in Limassol, Cyprus. In subsequent years, too, the Venetian organization has soared in numbers: Porec in Croatia in 2021 stopped at 1,590 athletes, while Jesolo had 2,430 (from 54 different nations) coming to Jesolo, a figure that reached 2,650 (from 59 nations) last year.
“It should be pointed out that the December competition is also important from the perspective of the future of the sport,” says Davide Benetello, FIJLKAM Karate Sector President and WKF Executive Board Member. “The Karate 1 – Youth League is in fact a competition created in 2018 and designed to increase the impact of Karate in young ages. Founded under the auspices of the WKF and Karate 1, the Youth League aims to become a platform for the development of young people in their quest for progress in the sport. The new competition is designed to respond to the growing interest of young karate practitioners between the ages of 12 and 21 and thus have more options to compete at the highest level. The future of our sport is young people.”
For more information, the official Karate Youth League website (www.karateyouthleague.com), the Multisport Veneto website or the Venice Cup Karate & Venice Youth League Facebook page are available.
FACT SHEETS
FIJLKAM The FIJLKAM (Italian Federation of Judo Wrestling Karate Martial Arts) was founded in Milan over a century ago by Marquis Luigi Monticelli Obizzi, with the aim of regulating the sports of Greco-Roman wrestling and weightlifting, and consists of the affiliated Societies, Associations and Bodies, which carry out – without profit – the sporting and promotional activities of Judo, Wrestling, Karate, Ju Jitsu, Aikido and Sumo; the traditional fights S’Istrumpa and Capoeira are also recognized. These are sports practiced at the amateur level, in harmony with the directives and guidelines of the respective International Federations, IOC (International Olympic Committee) and CONI (Italian National Olympic Committee). The FIJLKAM has, therefore, the institutional task of promoting, organizing, disciplining and disseminating the sports controlled by the International Judo Federation (IJF), the Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associèes (FILA), the World Karate Federation (WKF) and the International Sumo Federation (ISF), to which it is affiliated and from which it is recognized as the sole representative in Italy. FIJLKAM is the only federation recognized and authorized by CONI to regulate and manage sporting and promotional activities in Italy (in the disciplines we have indicated above) and to represent it abroad.
THE WKF The World Karate Federation, abbreviated WKF (from the English World Karate Federation), is a sports federation founded in 1990 by members of the World Union of Karate-do Organizations (WUKO). It is the only organization recognized by the International Olympic Committee. The Federation has been in charge of organizing the Senior World Championships (athletes 21 years and older) every two years since its founding, while it has been organizing the Under 21 (18 to 21 years old) and Junior (16 to 18 years old) World Championships since 1999. Finally, since 2009, it has also held the Cadet ones (ages 14 to 16). It is based in Madrid. In 2020 in Tokyo, Karate, under the auspices of the WKF, participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in history even though it has already been defined as an Olympic Sport for many years now thanks to its inclusion in the program of the Mediterranean Games, European Games, Youth Olympic Games and Beach Games.
ASI The sports promotion body Asi, Associazioni Sportive Sociali Italiane, recognized by CONI, is one of the most representative multi-sport entities on the national scene, and is the main partner in this project. Led at the national level by Senator Claudio Barbaro, Asi has always been at the side of Asi Karate Veneto, which, also adopting its name, has for more than 20 years positioned itself as the reference society of the discipline within this organization. In Asi, with the support of the Provincial Committee of Venice and the National Karate sector, numerous projects have been developed and as in a sports laboratory many of them have found their realization. For many years, innovative technical programs for the pre-competitive sector have been experimented, making them now also become the heritage of the Federation, in the spirit of an effective collaboration that sees these two important sports organizations linked in the intent to promote the combat disciplines of Wrestling, Judo and Karate among young people.
MULTISPORT VENETO SRL Multisport Veneto Srl SD is a company established in 2016 as the operational arm of Asi Karate Veneto Centro Karate Noale, an association founded in 1974, still affiliated with Fijlkam, to deal with all organizational aspects of sporting events in general and the Youth League in particular. Asi Karate Veneto, founded by the late Prof. Lino Vardiero and now chaired by his son, Master Vladi Vardiero, is one of the most titled associations at the national level for the numerous competitive results obtained by its athletes in almost half a century of activity. The Olympic Committee first awarded it the bronze medal and later that silver medal for Sporting Merits Achieved. The Federation awarded it the Federal Medal of Honor, the highest honor recognized by Fijlkam. Multisport Veneto Srl SD as Generl Contractor is in charge of the design, planning and organization of the World Karate Federation International Events held in Italy since 2018. It has also overseen the VeniceCup Karate editions from 2016 to the present. He has a dozen Events to his credit with a total attendance of over 12,000 Athletes in 4 years.
