Sanchez wins as Olympic karate kicks off

The women's solo kata competition kicked off karate's first foray into the Olympics, with veteran Sandra Sanchez of Spain taking the maiden gold.

Karate's first gold medal match between Sanchez and Japan's Kiyou Shimizu involved not a single blow.

In the kata discipline, practitioners demonstrate offensive and defensive techniques against a virtual opponent, choosing from 102 forms with esoteric-sounding names like "Chatanyara Kushanku" and "Suparinpei" that they yell out before they begin.

The execution of the three-minute kata, which comes from the four main styles of karate - Goju-Ryu, Shito-Ryu, Shotokan-Ryu and Wado-Ryu - is scored based on speed, rhythm, balance, sharpness and other factors.

Performing her routine at Nippon Budokan arena, the spiritual home of Japanese martial arts in Tokyo, Sanchez scored 28.06 against Shimizu's 27.88.

Known as the "queen of kata", Sanchez's triumph adds to a long and successful run for the 39-year-old, whose 36-medal haul at the sport's top-billed Karate 1 Premier League has already earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

"There are many emotions right now," Sanchez said of making her debut on the Olympic stage.

"I waited a long time for this moment."

Meanwhile, the kumite sparring category presented a more open field, but France's Steven Da Costa came through to win gold as the reigning world champion in the men's -67kg category beat Turkey's Eray Samdan in the final.

Kazakhstan's Darkhan Assadilov and Jordan's Abdel Rahman Almasatfa took bronze - the latter winning only the third Olympic medal for his country and the first outside taekwondo.

In the women's -55kg category, Bulgaria's Ivet Goranova defeated Ukraine's Anzhelika Terliuga to win gold, while Austria's Bettina Plank and Taiwan's Wen Tzuyun took the bronze.