Karate Canada is pleased to announce the following changes with regards to the format of its National Championships:

Given recently announced and unexpected changes in the international calendar, feedback from our community and recommendations from Karate Canada’s High Performance Committee, Karate Canada has decided to separate its National Championships into distinct Senior and Junior events as of 2019 inclusively, thus better aligning with the respective Junior and Senior international calendars of events.

While these remain to be confirmed, here are the tentative dates and locations of these two events in 2019:

• January 26-27, Montreal QC:
  2019 Senior National Championships (Senior divisions) 
• May 3-5, Calgary AB:
  2019 Junior National Championships (Youth, Cadet, Junior & U21 divisions)

In addition, please note the following updates, aimed at better supporting the various goals of team selection, athlete development and talent identification:

• Karate Canada will invite / allow each member Provincial / Territorial Karate Association to register one additional athlete per individual division at the SENIOR National Championships(as of the 2019 edition, inclusively – so up to 3 athletes per division in individual kumite divisions and up to 4 athletes in individual kata divisions, in addition to automatically invited athletes and Wildcards).
• Likewise, Karate Canada will invite / allow each member Provincial / Territorial Karate Association to register one additional athlete per individual division at the JUNIOR National Championships (as of the 2019 edition, inclusively, expected to be a 3-day event – so up to 3 athletes per division in individual kumite divisions and up to 4 athletes in individual kata divisions, in addition to automatically invited athletes and Wildcards).
• Finally, Karate Canada will use a “true / full double elimination” formula in all individual kumite divisions at future Senior National Championships (as of the 2019 edition inclusively), as opposed to the recently used “modified double elimination” (click here to view an example of a “true” double elimination draw).

All changes described above have been communicated to all member Provincial / Territorial Karate Associations, and will be reflected in upcoming Information Bulletins for the Senior and Junior 2019 National Championships.