DUBAI: Saudi Arabian Olympic silver medal hero Tarek Hamdi has kicked off his participation at 2021 World Karate Championships with two victories in the over-84 kg category.
Hamdi became a national hero in the summer after his performance at Tokyo 2020 in the 75kg category.
In his first match, Hamdi defeated Maciej Gebka of Poland, and then followed that up by beating the Brazilian Felipe Salgado.
Meanwhile another member of the Saudi national team, Faraj Al-Nashiri, won three matches against Simon Stochev of Bulgaria, Mohamed Dames of Bolivia and Robin Rettenbach of Austria in the under-84 kg competition.
Hamdi and Al-Nashiri are now looking to reach the next stage, the semi-finals, in their categories, while the Saudi duo of Bader Al-Otaibi and Omar Al-Hazmi will enter the championship competitions in the under 67 and 60kg categories.
