Serbian karateka Jovana Prekovic won gold at the 61kg Olympic kumite tournament in Tokyo

World and two-time European champion Jovana Prekovic of Serbia won gold at the 61kg Olympic kumite tournament in Tokyo. The 25-year-old Jovana Prekovic defeated world runner-up Yin Xiaoyan of China in the final with a referee’s decision after the match ended 0-0.

The bronze medals went to Merve Coban of Turkey and Giana Lotfy of Egypt.

The sport of karate debuted in the Olympic program of the Tokyo Games. In 2019, however, it became known that karate will be excluded from the program of the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.

Paris will add breakdancing instead, a snub that shocked the World Karate Federation given karate’s popularity in France, where the Olympics will have surfing, climbing and skateboarding carried over from the Tokyo Games.