The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the cancellation of yet another world class sport karate tournament. The U.S. Capitol Classics and China Open, a 6A-rated North American Sport Karate Association (NASKA) world tour event, last took place in 2019 and hoped to make a return in 2021. Promoters Grand Master Dennis Brown and Andrena Brown released this statement on Wednesday:

We regret to inform you that we will not present the 2021 US Capitol Classics China Open. Due to COVID restrictions, our venue, the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center is not scheduled to reopen until July. Depending on when it opens in July, that would give us less than one month to prepare, finalize and debut the 2021 US Capitol Classics China Open as the high quality event that it has been for over three decades. We were unable to secure a later date in the year because other groups had to move their dates or not present their events, as is the case for us. We will take this time to begin early preparations for 2022 August 4-6. We hope you understand our decision to err on the side of caution for you. Grand Master Brown and I (Andrena) will continue to support the NASKA events that are scheduled for 2021 and beyond.

The promoters take great pride in their event, which had improved in overall quality and attendance for years leading up to the pandemic. Grand Master Dennis Brown would not put on an event if he did not believe it was the best product he could possibly present to the competitors, and the sport karate community looks forward to this event's return in 2022.