Ali Sofuoğlu was part of the Turkish team that won the men's kata competition ©Getty Images

Turkey finished the European Karate Championships top of the medal table with a victory in the men's team kata event at the Karataş Şahinbey Sport Hall in Gaziantep.

The trio of Emre Vefa Göktaş, Enes Özdemir and Olympic bronze medallist Ali Sofuoğlu successfully defended their European title in the men's kata, beating Sergio Galan, Oscar Garcia and Alejandro Manzana of Spain in the final with a score of 26.80 to 26.02.

Italians Mattia Busato, Gianluca Gallo and Alessandro Iodice and the trio of Rovshan Aliyev, Tural Baljanli and Ismayil Guliyev from Azerbaijan claimed bronze.

In the women's event, Carola Casale, Terryana D'Onofrio and Michela Pezzetti also successfully defended their titles for Italy, beating Spain's Maria Lopez, Lidia Rodriguez and Raquel Roy 26.44 to 25.54.

Turkey's Zehra Kaya, Damla Pelit and Damla Su Turemen took bronze, as did Alexandra Feracci, Laetitia Feracci and Laura Pieri of France.

France claimed the men's kumite title with brothers Jessie and Steven Da Costa pivotal to their 3-1 victory over Azerbaijan.

Steven Da Costa, left, was part of the men's kumite gold medal-winning team for France ©Getty Images
Steven Da Costa, left, was part of the men's kumite gold medal-winning team for France ©Getty Images

Ukraine defeated Belgium 3-0 for bronze, as did Greece over Portugal for the other medal.

Croatia claimed the women's title - with world bronze medallist Lucija Lesjak the main star - by a 2-1 margin over Slovakia.

Spain defeated Sweden and France won against Austria to complete the podium.

In Para-karate, Spain claimed three gold medals - the first coming for Carlos Ruiz in the men's K-21, who defeated Germany's Albert Singer in the final.

Victor Arevalo took the men's K-22 gold by beating Mattia Allesina of Italy, while Isabel Jimenez claimed the title in the women's K-30 with a victory over home favourite Mürvet Demirtaş.

Azerbaijan won two gold medals thanks to Eldar Ahmadov in the men's K-30 and Emiliya Mitlinova in the women's K-10.

Ahmadov won against Vincente Santalla of Spain and Mitlinova defeated Benedetta Belotti from Italy.

Romania's Dorin Alexe won the men's K-10 title by beating Nihat Mammadzada of Azerbaijan, while Hungarian Olívia Kákosy won the women's K-21 by beating Spaniard Lucia Rosado.

Finally, Daniela Topic of Croatia defeated Maria Lopez of Spain in the women's K-22 final.