Saudi karate team wins four medals at World Youth League Championship

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The Saudi karate team won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the World Youth League Championship in Spain over the weekend. (Supplied)
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The Saudi karate team won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the World Youth League Championship in Spain over the weekend. (Supplied)
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The Saudi karate team won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the World Youth League Championship in Spain over the weekend. (Supplied)
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The Saudi karate team won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the World Youth League Championship in Spain over the weekend. (Supplied)
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The Saudi karate team won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the World Youth League Championship in Spain over the weekend. (Supplied)
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Updated 01 May 2023
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Saudi karate team wins four medals at World Youth League Championship

  • Sanad Sufyani takes gold in +84 kg Olympic category
  • One silver, two bronze medals collected in youth, junior categories

LA CORUNA, Spain: The Saudi karate team won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the World Youth League Championship in Spain over the weekend.

The gold medal was won by Sanad Sufyani in the +84 kg Olympic category, the silver by Sultan Al-Qahtani in the -61 kg youth category, and the bronzes by Abdullah Al-Qahtani (-70 kg) and Saad Al-Saif (-57kg) in the junior category.

The Kingdom’s team is coached by Mounir Afqir and his assistant Mohamed Ghazwani.

The president of the Saudi Karate Federation, Mushrif Al-Shihry, thanked Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal for his support of the sport in the Kingdom. The prince is also chairman of the Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Al-Shihry said the nation’s backing had been key to the team’s success and enabled the federation to foster male and female champions in a range of categories and weights.

Saudi karatekas are now preparing for the International Karate Federation World Premier League, which gets underway in May in Rabat, Morocco.


US invests in counter-drone tech to protect FIFA World Cup venues

Updated 59 min 18 sec ago
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US invests in counter-drone tech to protect FIFA World Cup venues

The US will invest $115 million in counter-drone measures to bolster security around the FIFA World Cup and ​America’s 250th Anniversary celebrations, the Department of Homeland Security said on Monday, the latest sign of governments stepping up drone defenses.

The FIFA World Cup will be a major test of President Donald Trump’s pledge to keep the US ‌secure, with over ‌a million travelers expected ‌to ⁠visit ​for ‌the tournament and billions more watching matches from overseas.

The threat of drone attacks has become a growing concern since the war in Ukraine has demonstrated their lethal capabilities. And recent drone incidents have worried both ⁠European and US airports.

“We are entering a new era ‌to defend our air ‍superiority to protect our ‍borders and the interior of the ‍United States,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. Defense companies are developing a range of technologies aimed at countering drones, including ​tracking software, lasers, microwaves and autonomous machine guns.

The DHS did not specify ⁠which technologies it would deploy to World Cup venues. The announcement comes weeks after the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which sits under DHS, said it granted $250 million to 11 states hosting World Cup matches to buy counter-drone technologies.

Last summer, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, called on Trump, a Republican, to bolster federal support for ‌defending against drone attacks.