First-ever West Bengal Open Karate Championship to be held in Kolkata

The Kishore Bharati Krirangan (KBK) stadium in the southern part of Kolkata, is all set to host the first-ever West Bengal Open Kyokushin Karate Championship 2023. The two-day championship, scheduled between December 16-17, 2023, will witness close to 200 Karatekas from around 15 Kyokushin Karate clubs of the state, competing across male and female age group categories. Organized by the city-based Mike’s Martial Arts, the Championship is being supported by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, the Government of West Bengal, and the FIT India Movement.

Speaking on the occasion, Sensei Mayukh Banerjee (3rd Dan Black Belt and Founder Mikes Martial Arts) said, “Kyokushin is a full-contact Karate style of stand-up fighting which originated in Japan. With the sport Karate making its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well as being part of the Asian Games roster, India can look to reap rich rewards of its long history of engagement with this Japanese martial art, provided a committed, disciplined, and structured approach is adopted. We have also had some very encouraging results in the international circuit recently and have some very talented young fighters. Championships such as these are necessary to test the mettle of the talent in the state as also to find hidden gems, yet unearthed.”

Among prominent competitors who will be seen in action at the KBK will be Rishika Banerjee, Sneha Samanta, and Babu Biswas and some top clubs have registered to compete from various districts of West Bengal.

The Championship has also received a lot of corporate support with such names as UCO Bank, Limca SPORTZ, Fit India, Sanjeevani Homeo Care, Chatterjee Tutorials, WOW Momo, and Edition Sports, all coming forward to associate.

A total of more than 100 bouts in the age groups from 6+ to 14 years will be fought on 16th December. Another approximately 100 bouts will be fought in the 14+ to adult categories. There are a total of 48 event categories in all.