Differences in technical-tactical indicators of karate kumite between the world championship in tokyo 2008 and madrid 2018

Abstract

The Karate, for a decade now, has undergone the adaptation of their rules with a tendency for greater attractiveness and media enthusiasm to the best impression on the audience and media at its first appearance at the Olympics (Tokyo 2020). Therefore, the aim of this paper is to establish the trend of differences in the technical-tactical indicators of karate kumite between Karate World Championships in Tokyo 2008 and Madrid 2018. There were 274 contestants in Tokyo, seniors aged 18 and over in 137 combat, and 24 contestants in 12 combat in Madrid consisted 48 variables of techniques and tactics. The data was based on the 149 DVD videos. The karate fighting parameters were compared using Mann-Whitney U test. Analyses were performed using MedCalc statistical software 10.4 (MedCalc software, Ostend, Belgium) and P value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. The results indicate that there is no statistically significant difference in 45 of 48 variables of technical tactical indicators between two championships. Three variables showed a statistically significant difference: Kizame Tsuki-not-scored in attack, Gyako Tsuki Jodan-not-scored in counterattack and Gyako Tsuki Chudan-not-scored in attack. The results between the technical-tactical indicators of the karate fighting in the two world championships indicates that generally there are no significant differences, particularly in the score-based techniques. Hand-not-scored techniques performed in Madrid showed lower level of frequency. Reasons for such results were in karate rules changes and in the increase of the fight length from 3 to 4 minutes that most probably led to energy rationalisation of movement structure. In this way, it can be concluded that today's karate fighters are less active from the aspect of non-scored techniques, compared to karate fighters ten years ago. Non-scored techniques within the combining technical structures of karate combat are likely to contribute that kind of differences.