Rika Usami

Rika Usami, born on February 20, 1986, in Tokyo, is a Japanese karateka who specialises in individual kata. She won gold in individual kata at the 2012 World Karate Championships after taking bronze at the 2010 championships, and she also won gold in the same category at the 2010 Asian Games. She said in an interview that she began karate at ten in a Goju-ryu dojo near her family's home in Tokyo after seeing a female fighter on television. Her first tournament came as a green belt at twelve, and she won her first tournament at seventeen at the All Japan High School Karatedo Championships. As of March 2021 she coaches the karate team at Kokushikan University.