Venezuela’s Antonio Diaz reached the men's kata final ©WKF

Spain’s Damian Quintero and Venezuela’s Antonio Diaz advanced to the men’s kata final on the second day of the Karate 1-Premier League event in Dubai.

World Championship silver medallist Quintero continued his consistent run of performances, as the world number two advanced to a fourth final of the season.

Quintero led his pool with a score of 26.68 to advance, with Diaz boosting his hopes of Tokyo 2020 qualification by achieving 25.36 in his group.

The gold medal bout is expected to be one of the most eagerly anticipated of tomorrow’s finals at the Al Wasl Club.

Egypt’s Feryal Abdelaziz produced one of the surprise results of the day, as she clinched a 4-0 win over reigning world champion Irina Zaretska of Azerbaijan in the women’s under-68 kilogram semi-finals.

The result comes a week on from Abdelaziz having secured gold at the African Karate Championships in Morocco.

She will hope to top the podium in consecutive weeks when she meets China’s Li Gong in the final.

Li was awarded victory over Austria’s Alisa Buchinger, after their semi-final ended with a 1-1 stalemate.

Egypt could enjoy further success in the women’s over 68kg competition as Shymaa Abouel Yazed reached her first Karate 1-Premier League final in nearly six years.

She overcame her team-mate Menna Shaaban Okila 2-1 in the semi-finals.

Turkey’s Meltem Hocaoglu Akyol will provide the opposition in the final, after she claimed a 4-1 over Kazakhstan’s Sofya Berultseva.

Medal contests will take place tomorrow in Dubai ©WKF
Medal contests will take place tomorrow in Dubai ©WKF

World number one Xiaoyan Yin progressed to the women’s under-61kg kumite final, with the Chinese athlete overcoming Russia’s Nailya Gataullina in the last four.

Iran’s Shima Alesaadi was awarded victory by the judges in the second final, after her bout with newly crowned African champion Giana Lotfy ended 2-2.

Germany’s world champion Jonathan Horne reached the men’s over 84kg kumite final, after he beat Egypt’s Taha Tarek Mahmoud in the semi-finals.

The judges awarded him the contest after the bout finished 1-1.

Officials were also required to decide the second semi-final, with Georgia’s Gogita Arkania ultimately overcoming Chile’s Rodrigo Rojas after their bout ended scoreless.

Zabiollah Poorshab won the all-Iranian semi-final 3-2 against Mahdi Kohdabakhshi in the men’s under-84kg division.

Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Yuldashev beat North Macedonia’s Petar Spasenovski 6-0 in the second semi-final.

Gold and bronze medal bouts will take place tomorrow.