Japan underlined its dominance of the kata discipline at the opening event of the Karate-1 Premier League season on Sunday, with Ryo Kiyuna taking the men's gold and Kiyou Shimizu taking the women's title.

Kiyuna, who became the kata world champion for the third consecutive time in November, earned 26.92 points to defeat European champion Damian Hugo Quintero Capdevila of Spain by almost two points at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium.

"I had fun. I want to show (the spectators) what Japanese karate and Okinawa karate is about," said Kiyuna, who performed the Ohan Dai, the latest karate kata for the 2020 Tokyo Games.