Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee, Vietnam Sports Administration, and the Southeast Asian Karate Federation officially organized the opening ceremony of the 2026 Southeast Asian Championships with the participation of martial artists from 11 countries in the region including Vietnam (host), Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Brunei.
The tournament gathers nearly 400 athletes to enter the competition to compete for medal sets for kata (performance) and kumite (combat) for the championship, junior, youth, U21 system.
For the championship system alone, the tournament includes 17 events. The Vietnamese karate team aims to win the first place overall in this year's tournament.
At the opening ceremony, representatives of the Organizing Committee and host Ninh Binh welcomed the delegations to Vietnam to compete as well as expressed their belief that the competitions would be managed professionally in the best way.
Representatives of the Asian Karate Federation present in Ninh Binh at the opening ceremony expect all martial artists in the region to create an exciting competition and achieve many achievements at this year's tournament.
This is the 3rd time Vietnam has hosted the Southeast Asian Karate Championship. We have hosted the Southeast Asian Karate Championship in 2014, 2018 before.
The tournament has drawn professional numbers and officially started competing from July 9. On July 12, the competition program will close.
This year, host Vietnam registered 108 athletes to fully participate in the events taking place at the tournament.
