The Thimphu Karate Club brought home 12 medals from the IMAS World Kumite Championship 2019, which was recently held at Jaipur in India.
The club stood third at the championship and bagged five gold, four silver and three bronze medals.
Over 200 participants from 14 different countries participated in the international championship.
Karate is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts under the influence of Chinese Kung Fu, particularly Fujian White Crane.
Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open-hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands and palm-heel strikes.
Historically, and in some modern styles, grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints and vital-point strikes are also taught.
A karate practitioner is called a karateka.
