The world’s showpiece kata event is the second of three events in Cancun with the IJF World Veteran Championships to follow later this week. Monday’s opening day of kata showcased Nage No Kata, Katame No Kata and Ju No Kata.
Category 1 featured judoka aged up to 35 and category 2 featured judoka aged 36 above with two sets of world champions crowned per kata.
In the Nage No Kata Category 1 division the gold medals were won by the Brazilian duo of UCHIDA Wagner Tadashi and FERREIRA Paulo Roberto (below - centre) who scored 402.5 points.
The Katame No Kata Category 1 title went to Italy as FREGNAN Andrea and CORCIONI Pietro (below - centre) topped the field ahead of France and Belgium.
The Ju No Kata Category 1 division was won by Japanese pair of ISHIDA Momoko and ISHIDA Mariko who received 438 points.
In the Nage No Kata Category 2 field Japan were runaway winners as SAKAMOTO Michito and YOKOYAMA Takayuki produced a majestic performance to take gold with a score of 436.
The Katame No Kata Category 2 division saw Japan’s NAKAYAMA Satoshi and HAYASHI Seiji star with a masterful display as they received 442 points. In the Ju No Kata Category 2 division the gold medals were won by the German duo of DAX ROMSWINKEL Wolfgang and LOOSEN Ursula who scored 426 points.
Watch day 2 of the IJF Kata World Championships live and free on Tuesday on the IJF YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/judo
Day 2 will feature Kime no Kata (cat 1 & 2) and Kodokan Goshin Jutsu (cat 1 & 2).