Karate One Youth League in PH aims to develop young athletes

The Karate One Youth League, which began Thursday, formally opened Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

With participants from more than 50 countries and territories, the tournament aims to provide a platform for athletes aged 17 and below to showcase their talents and compete against some of the world’s best young karatekas.

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This is also the goal of Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation president Richard Lim.

“Well, number one, we hosted this youth league to give opportunities to our youth,” Lim said.

“We have a good national team, but anytime soon, they (older players) will be retiring. So we have to promote the youth, and one way of giving them the opportunity is by hosting because they will be playing on a different battlefield. This is the world standard,” he added.

Lim also highlighted Filipino hospitality and the federation’s successful hosting, which impressed the World Karate Federation and led to another opportunity to stage the Asian leg of the World Youth League in February.

“Sabi sa akin, are you willing to step up to the challenge? Sabi ko, yes. Of course, back to the drawing board, we have to start all over again, but at least we already have experience so we learn from that and improve some more," Lim said.

"But again, most of them were saying this is a nice championships, the best they’ve come to the Youth League so far. "

The youth league will run until Sunday.

—GMA News