Sharjah 24 – Reuters: Germany's gold-medal hopeful Jonathan Horne was eliminated from karate's "kumite" sparring contest on Saturday after a mid-bout injury to his right arm left him unable to rise from the tatami and he was carried away on a stretcher.

With some 20 seconds left in his match against Georgia's Gogita Arkania, Horne, the reigning world champion in the +84kg kumite event, collapsed onto the mat, writhing and screaming in agony as medics rushed to his side.

The nature of his injury was not immediately clear.

Horne's departure from the +75kg event saw Japan's Ryutaro Araga, who was due to fight the German next, advance to the semi-finals top of Pool A, followed by Turkey's Ugur Aktas.

The final day of karate's debut Olympics tournament kicked off earlier with the elimination of the fifth Japanese karate-ka on the women's side, leaving Araga as the last hope for home athletes to grab a medal in kumite.