Hosts Japan clinched 10 gold medals on the last day of competition at the World University Karate Championships in Kobe ©Naomichi Matsushita/AKF

Hosts Japan clinched 10 gold medals on the last day of competition at the World University Karate Championships in Kobe, losing just two of the finals in which they were represented.

A huge part of the home nation’s success came as a result of a clean sweep of victories in the kata events at the Kobe Central Gymnasium in the capital city of the Hyōgo Prefecture.

Yuhei Horiba beat Iran’s Abolfazl Shahrjerdi 5-0 in the men’s individual kata final, while Natsuki Shimizu defeated Italy’s Terryana D'Onofrio 4-1 in the women’s equivalent.

The men’s team kata final saw Japan overcome Austria 5-0 and their women’s side was equally as comfortable in beating Spain to top honours.

Japan also claimed the men’s team kumite title, thanks to a 3-1 win over Iran, and five individual kumite crowns.

Four of their individual successes came in women’s competition with Miho Miyahara among the winning quartet.

She beat Chinese Taipei’s Gu Shiau-Shuang 2-1 in the under-50 kilograms final, while there were also triumphs for Haname Katayama in the under-55kg, Yuki Kujuro in the under-61kg and Kanako Oryu in the under-68kg.

Katayama defeated Iran’s Avishan Bagheri 2-0 with Kujuro and Oryu edging Iran’s Melika Ahadi and France’s Laura Sivert respectively after finishing level on points.

Seven nations tasted victory in all ©Naomichi Matsushita/AKF
Seven nations tasted victory in all ©Naomichi Matsushita/AKF

Completing Japan’s list of gold medallists was Yusei Sakiyama, who comfortably overcame France’s Lou Lebrun 8-0 in the men’s under-75kg final.

The two finals lost today by Japan were those in the men's under-67kg and over-84kg kumite categories.

Soichiro Nakano missed out on the under-67kg title after falling to a 5-4 defeat at the hands of Italy's Francesco D'Onofrio.

In the over-84kg gold medal match, Daiki Ando lost 4-1 to Iran's Saleh Abazari.

Joining Italy and Iran in winning one gold medal were France, Germany, Turkey and the United States.

France's victory came courtesy of a 1-0 win over Spain in the women's team kumite final.

The three other finals saw Germany's Rosa Marie Liebold narrowly get the better of Chinese Taipei’s Wen Tzu-Hsuan in the women's over-68kg, Turkey's Eray Samdan beat Saudi Arabia’s Saud Albasher 5-3 in the men's under-60kg, and the US's Kamran Madani defeat Australia's Durham Mitchell 2-1 in the men's under-84kg.

As well as 10 golds and two silvers, Japan also secured two bronze medals.

Iran finished second in the standings with one gold, four silvers and five bronzes, while France came third with one gold, two silvers and five bronzes.