The second day of action at the 2026 Karate One Premier League in Rome delivered excitement as well as upsets as exponents booked their places in the final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Male Kata \u2013 Ariel Torres Gutierrez vs Grand Winner Kakeru Nishiyama<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ariel Torres Gutierrez from the United States caused one of the biggest shocks of the day. He defeated Italy\u2019s Alessio Ghinami 6-1 in the semifinals. Ghinami, the current World Championships runner-up and local star, couldn\u2019t find his way to the final on home soil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the other semifinal, Kakeru Nishiyama of Japan beat Kotaro Ohata 6-1. Nishiyama, the reigning Grand Winner and World Champion, aims for an incredible 13th consecutive gold medal in Karate One events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Female Kumite -61 kg \u2013 Sarara Shimada vs Grand Winner Assel Kanayu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Japan\u2019s Sarara Shimada advanced to the final after a narrow 6-5 win over Emina Sipovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Shimada looks to claim her fourth Karate One Premier League gold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the other semifinal, Kazakhstan\u2019s Assel Kanay defeated Wafa Mahjoub of Tunisia 3-2. Kanay, the current Grand Winner, will face Shimada in a tense battle for the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Male Kumite -84 kg \u2013 Eduard Gasparian vs Matteo Fiore<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Eduard Gasparian of WKF-1 powered past Rikito Shimada of Japan 9-5. Gasparian\u2019s strong attacks and quick counter-strikes secured his spot in the final. Matteo Fiore of Italy won his semifinal 3-0 against Djordje Salapura of Serbia. Fiore is a two-time silver medallist in the Premier League but has yet to claim gold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The final will pit Gasparian\u2019s explosive style against Fiore\u2019s determination on home turf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Female Kumite -68 kg \u2013 Thalya Sombe vs Grand Winner Elena Quirici<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n France\u2019s Thalya Sombe caused one of the day\u2019s biggest upsets, defeating Azerbaijan\u2019s Iryna Zaretska 5-3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sombe, a three-time Premier League winner and current World Champion, is back in top form. Switzerland\u2019s Elena Quirici beat Elina Sieliemienieva of Ukraine 2-0. Quirici, the current Grand Winner, returns to the final after missing the Istanbul event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Male Kumite 84+ kg \u2013 Mohamed Elhassan vs Andjelo Kvesic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Egypt\u2019s Mohamed Elhassan reached his first Karate One Premier League final after a 0-0 draw against Anes Bostandzic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, winning by \u2018Hantei\u2019 or judges\u2019 decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Croatia\u2019s Andjelo Kvesic beat Ivan Kudzina\u016d of WKF-2 2-1, reaching his second Premier League final. Kvesic previously won the title in 2024 in Antalya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Female Kumite 68+ kg \u2013 Sofya Berultseva vs Rochelle Walters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kazakhstan\u2019s Sofya Berultseva advanced to the final after a 4-2 victory over Maria Torres Garcia of Spain. Berultseva, a five-time Premier League winner, aims to repeat her Istanbul success. England\u2019s Rochelle Walters beat Johanna Kneer of Germany 4-3 to reach her first final since her two previous appearances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The second day of action at the 2026 Karate One Premier League in Rome delivered excitement as well<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-10584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-karate"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3.png",1200,731,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3-300x183.png",300,183,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3-768x468.png",640,390,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3-1024x624.png",640,390,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3.png",1200,731,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3.png",1200,731,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3-825x575.png",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3-590x410.png",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/031426_k1rome_2-2_3.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10586,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10584\/revisions\/10586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}