KARACHI, Oct 9: Defending champions Wapda kept the upperhand by bagging two gold medals on the inaugural day of the 6th National Women's Karate Championship at Moti Mahal Hall of the Women Sports Complex here on Saturday. Kumite (sparring) matches in Shotokan style were held in three weight categories — over 61kg, below 61kg and below 55kg.

Kulsum Hazara (Wapda) won gold in the +61kg category while Hina Tabassum (Army) took silver with Quratulain (Punjab) and Mahwesh Sardar (Islamabad) walking away with bronze.

Gold in -61kg went to Hina Azeem (Army) followed by Fauzia Parveen's (Railway) silver and Fiza Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Beenish Khan (Wapda) taking bronze.

Uzma Azghar of Wapda, meanwhile, took gold in -55kg for the sixth consecutive time followed by silver for Sana Kausar and bronze for Latifa (Balochistan) and Neelum (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Meanwhile, South Asian Games gold medalist Sarah Nasir of Army could not feature in the championship due to being unfit. According to the Army team chief coach Mohammad Riaz, Sarah was suffering from a broken ligament in the left foot since the South Asian Games in Dhaka (Jan 29-Feb 8) where she took gold despite suffering from the injury.

“She has been undergoing treatment and was doing a lot better, too, before aggravating the injury during preparatory camp for this championship. Still, we expect her to be fully fit in time for the National Games in December,” said the coach.

The event featuring nine teams, namely, Wapda, Army, Railways, Police, Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad, is being organised by the Pakistan Karate Federation in collaboration with Sindh Karate Association. The championship concludes on Sunday.