On May 2, 2019 Irakli Tuzhba, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia met with Rogelio Floras, the Vice-President of the International Federation Karate-Do Shotokan Kaze Ha at the Foreign Ministry of Abkhazia. The meeting was also attended by Ahra Abuhba, the President of the Abkhazian Karate Federation, and Igor Sadovnikov, the President of the Russian Karate Union-Do Shotokan Kaze Ha. 

During the meeting, the main attention was devoted to the upcoming World Championship on karate Shotokan in 2021, which will be held in the Republic of Abkhazia.

Opening the meeting, Irakli Tuzhba stressed the importance of holding of international competitions on the territory of Abkhazia. As noted, Abkhazia has sufficient experience in organizing of major international sports events. In our republic such large international competitions as the FIFA World Cup under the auspices of ConIFA, as well as the Domino World Championship were successfully held. “It is considered that sport is out of politics, however, our athletes are often deprived of the opportunity to take part in international competitions as a result of the policy of isolating of Abkhazia conducted by Georgia and its western partners,” said Tuzhba. According to him, holding the World Cup in Karate in the Republic of Abkhazia is a great opportunity to demonstrate to all civilized humanity that Abkhazia is a picturesque and hospitable country, ready to develop mutually beneficial cooperation with representatives of various countries of the world.

Rogelio Flores spoke about the purpose of the visit to the republic, gave a positive assessment of the process of preparing Abkhazia for this international event. He noted that the Federation has several thousand participants from various parts of the world who are familiar with the republic and are its good friends.

Mr. Flores also expressed the readiness of the Federation to provide the necessary assistance in organizing the World Cup and expressed confidence in its success.

The World Championship on karate Shotokan will be held in Abkhazia in 2021. This decision was made by the judges of the championship.