Around 600 athletes from 57 countries took to the mats in the Turkish city, producing a wide spread of champions with eight nations topping the podium across 14 categories.

The first of Turkey's gold medals came from Ali Sofuoğlu, who overcame Minh Dack Vu Duc of France to take the men's kata title, with bronze going to France also in the form of Lucas Jeannot and Egyptian Ashraf Shawky Ahmed.

The women's kata crown was claimed by Ngan Nguyen Hoang of Vietnam after defeating Italy's Terryana D'Onofrio, while Hong Kong's Grace Lau Mo Sheung and Frenchwoman Alexandra Feracci took home bronze.

Women's kata team honours went to Germany ahead of Iran and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Turkey's second gold of the weekend went to the kata trio of Orcun Duman, Arslan Çalişkan and Sofuoğlu who prevailed in the men's team competition ahead of Iran and France.

Serap Ozcelik and Serkan Yagci ensured the host nation topped the podium in both the men's and women's kumite events.

Ozcelik prevailed in the women's under 50kg class defeating Said Rasheed Areeg of Egypt in the deciding bout, with bronze medals going to Ting Tsang Yee of Hong Kong and Canadian Roxanne Cote.

Ali Sofuoğlu raises his arm in triumph after delighting the home fans with victory in the men's kata category ©WKF




The men's under 75kg crown was won by Yagci, who had too much for another Egyptian in the form of Ahmed Solyman.

Iranian Bahman Asgari Ghoncheh and Japan's Daisuke Watanabe won the bronze medals.

However, gold medals for Nabil Ibrahim Aia and Alzahraa Reda Fatma ensured Egypt ended the weekend second on the overall medal standings ahead of Iran.

Aia overcame compatriot Shaymaa Alsayed in the final of the women's over 68kg category, while bronze medals went to Ecuadorian Valeria Echever and Iran's Hamideh Abbasali.

Alzahraa proved too good for Austrian Alisa Buchinger in the women's under 68kg gold medal match, while Yasmine Gharib kept the Egyptian medal machine ticking over with bronze along Japan's Kayo Someya.

The Italian tricolour was also flying high in Istanbul with two victories.

Nicole Forcella denied Egypt another gold by overcoming Giana lofty in the women's under 61kg decider.

Anita Serogina claimed bronze for Ukraine as did Egypt's Khamis Dagher Nada.

In the men's under 60kg final, Luca Maresca overpowered Georgian David Tkebuchava, while once again the bronze medals were shared between Ukraine and Egypt in the form of Vitali Sementsov and Mohamed Aly.

Nabil Ibrahim Aia of Egypt (second from left) prevailed in the women's over 68kg final in Istanbul ©WKF



Iran were the other nation to leave Turkey with more than one gold medal as they topped the podium in the men's under 67kg and over 84kg categories.

Saeid Ahmadi Karyani overcame Gianluca De Vivo in the under 67kg decider, with both bronze medals going to Azerbaijani's Rafiz Hasanov and Niyazi Aliyev.

Sajad Ganjzadeh prevailed in the over 84kg final disappointing the home crowd by defeating Enes Erkan, while it was double bronze for Egypt this time in the form of Ahmed Elasfar and Osama Mansour.

After dominating in the last Premier League event on home soil in Okinawa last weekend, winning 10 gold medals, Japan had to make do with just the one in Istanbul.

It was won by Miki Kobayashi in the women's under 55kg final after she overcame Egyptian Yassmin Attia, whose compatriot Ehab Ahmed Fatma secured bronze and shared the third step of the podium with Luxembourg's Jennifer Warling.

Aykhan Mamayev of Azerbaijan was the winner in the men's under 84kg category and once again it was an Egyptian who provided the opposition in the form of Ibrahim Abdalla.

His compatriot Mohamed Elkotby and Italy's Nello Maestri secured the bronze medals.

Next up on the Premier League circuit is the meeting in Hanau, Germany on September 27 and 28.

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