What happens when a karate athlete is injured in a bout?

• Stopping: the referee halts the bout at once and calls the doctor.
• Treatment time: three minutes. After that the referee decides whether to allow more or to declare the athlete unfit.
• Ten-second rule: an athlete lying flat after a fall, throw or knockdown who does not fully regain their feet within ten seconds is unfit to continue.
• The count: the referee counts aloud in English to ten, showing a finger for each second, and calls the doctor at the same time.
• The consequence: automatic withdrawal from every kumite event in that tournament.
• The doctor's role: an opinion on fitness only.
• The referee's role: deciding the winner, by hansoku, kiken or shikkaku as the case may be.
• Winning by an opponent's disqualification through injury: the injured winner needs the doctor's permission to fight again.
• Concussion: no permission can be given after a loss of consciousness or any symptom of concussion.
• A second such win: the athlete is withdrawn from further kumite in the tournament.

The glossary has the kiken, the hansoku and shikkaku, the mubobi, the control and skin touch, the referee and the disqualification.

An athlete who cannot stand within ten seconds may have a head injury, and the rule takes the decision to continue out of the athlete's hands. The limit on winning twice through an opponent's foul protects an athlete who has already been hurt once that day.