MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Russian athletes will be awarded a sum of five million rubles (over $54,650) for every gold medal won at the 2025 Karate World Championship in Egypt, President of the Russian Karate Federation (RKF) Sergey Tsoi told TASS on Friday.

On August 22, Moscow hosted a conference for the Russian Karate Federation, which was held ahead of the national karate championship. Sergey Tsoi was unanimously re-elected the president of the RKF for another term.

"During the conference we announced a decision that the winners of the 2025 World Karate Championship will be awarded five million rubles in prize money. We will keep our word," Tsoi said in an interview with TASS.

"I believe that this upcoming World Karate Championship should involve a material award, not just the thrill of victory," he continued. "The most important thing is that this championship takes place."

"It does not matter how many winners there are, we [RKF] will make sure that every one of them gets the prize money. The more there are, the better," Tsoi said. "I do realize that it is not easy today to fund this kind of success, but we are committed to this."

"Our athletes must go out into the ring and fight for their country, fight for their homeland," he added.

Late last October, Egypt’s Cairo was awarded the right to host the 2025 Karate World Senior Individual Championships.

Russia’s karatekas managed to win only one bronze medal at the 2023 World Karate Championship, which was held in Budapest, Hungary on October 24-29, 2023. The team of Russian athletes participated in the world championship under a neutral status. Team Japan finished at the top of the championship’s medal standings, having won four gold, one silver and one bronze.