WKF President Antonio Espinós met on Thursday with sport authorities in Andorra to discuss the inclusion of Karate in the 2021 edition of the Games of the Small States of Europe to be held in Andorra. 

WKF President Antonio Espinós met on Thursday with sport authorities in Andorra to discuss the inclusion of Karate in the 2021 edition of the Games of the Small States of Europe to be held in Andorra. 

Accompanied by Andorran Karate Federation President Xavier Herver, Mr. Espinós met with the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Olga Gelabert, the Secretary of State for Sport Jordi Beal and the Andorra Olympic Committee President Jaume Marti.

The WKF and EKF President analysed with local sport leaders the creation of a roadmap for Karate’s inclusion in the multi-sports event that gathers the nine European small states (Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro and San Marino). Different plans to promote the development of Karate in the region were also discussed. 

“After being added to the programmes of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018, the inclusion of Karate in the Games of the Small States of Europe is on top of our agenda. We believe that Karate can bring added value to this event, and we hope that we will be able to give the Karate family another great news for the development of our sport. I really appreciate President Herver’s efforts and the cooperation and support that we have received from the sport authorities of Andorra. I would also like to thank Small States of Europe Karate Federation president, Andreas Vassiliou for his hard work and dedication on this matter,” declared Mr. Espinós.      

The Games of the Small States of Europe is a biennial, multi-sport event featuring competition in nine Summer Olympic disciplines. Two more sports are proposed by the organising committee of every new edition, and Karate’s hopes are centred in being added to the 2021 Games. The decision on the new sports will be ratified by the General Assembly of the Small States of Europe to be held next May during the 2017 Games in San Marino.