Armenia’s Suren Harutyunyan Takes Silver After One-Point Loss in Karate Final

Armenian karate standout Suren Harutyunyan won silver at the Karate1 Series A in Salzburg, Austria, on Sunday.

Competing in the men’s -75 kg kumite division, Harutyunyan advanced to the final before falling just short of gold against a Japanese opponent. The championship bout was decided by a single point, with Harutyunyan losing 6-5.

The Salzburg tournament closed the 2026 Karate1 Series A season, which also included stops in Tbilisi, A Coruña and Guadalajara. More than 1,100 entries from 82 delegations were registered for the final event in Austria.

The silver comes less than a year after Harutyunyan delivered Armenia its first-ever medal at the senior Karate World Championships.

At the 2025 World Championships in Cairo, Harutyunyan won bronze in the same -75 kg division. He defeated American Thomas Scott 2-0 in the bronze-medal bout, becoming the first Armenian karateka to reach the podium at the senior world championships.

Harutyunyan has continued to build on that breakthrough in 2026. He placed sixth at the Karate1 Premier League event in Rabat in June and also finished sixth at the European Senior Championships in Frankfurt in May, according to World Karate Federation records.

His international rise began well before his senior world championship breakthrough. In 2024, Harutyunyan won gold in the U21 -67 kg division at the Karate1 Youth League event in Venice.

Now competing at -75 kg, the 22-year-old Armenian has established himself among the country’s most successful karate athletes on the international stage.

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