Berlin is set to host the latest Karate 1-Premier League ©WKF

This weekend's Berlin Karate 1-Premier League will provide the first tournament in a series of international competitions which form part of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying process.

A total of 763 athletes, representing 72 nations, will compete at the Horst-Korber-Sportzentrum in Germany's capital.

The competition, which starts tomorrow, will serve as the penultimate Karate 1-Premier League event of the season, with the sport’s stars hoping to secure the Grand Winners award for their division.

The winners will all be decided at the season finale in Tokyo next month.

Spain’s Sandra Sanchez will the favourite to secure victory in the women’s kata competition, while Japan’s Ryo Kiyuna is the leader in the men's kata category.

Turkey’s Eray Samdan and Burak Uygur will hope to continue their leadership of the men’s under-60 kilogram and under-67kg kumite events respectively.

Competition is set to take place until Sunday ©WKF
Competition is set to take place until Sunday ©WKF

Their team-mate Serap Ozcelik also currently leads the women’s under-50kg division.

Azerbaijan’s Rafael Aghayev, Egypt’s Ahmed Elmasry and Mehdi Filali of France lead men’s categories heading into the event.

Italy’s Sara Cardin, China’s Xiaoyan Yin, Slovakia’s Miroslava Kopunova and Titta Keinanen of Finland will seek to retain their advantage in their women’s divisions.

Germany will be represented by a 19 member team at their home event.