The International Olympic Committee Executive Board member and Chairman of IOC Athletes' Entourage Commission, Sergey Bubka visited the 2018 Karate World Championships in Madrid. The WKF President Antonio Espinós welcomed Mr Bubka in the capital of Spain for the biggest event of the sport as meetings took place to strengthen the relationships between Karate’s international organisation and the Ukrainian legend of the sport.  

The International Olympic Committee Executive Board member and Chairman of the IOC Athletes' Entourage Commission, Sergey Bubka visited the 2018 Karate World Championships in Madrid. WKF President Antonio Espinós welcomed Mr Bubka in the capital of Spain for the biggest event of the sport as meetings took place to strengthen the relationships between Karate’s international organisation and the Ukrainian legend of the sport.  

“We very much appreciated having Mr Bubka in Madrid for such a historic event as the Karate World Championships, and I hope that Mr Bubka had the opportunity to witness the amazing magnitude of our sport. I am sure that his attendance in our event and the meetings we had here will help us to further cement our ties and association,” said WKF President Antonio Espinós. 

As chairman of the IOC Athletes’ Encourage Commission, Mr Bubka met with the representatives of the WKF’s body supporting athletes on and off the field. The WKF Entourage Commission is headed by Souleymane Gaye of Senegal as chairman and is composed by Davide Benetello of Italy, Nassim Varasteh of Canada and Laurence Fischer of France. The members of the WKF Entourage Commission had the opportunity to share with Mr Bubka the initiatives taken by the commission and their upcoming plans for the near future. 

Mr Bubka, who is the President of the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee, also took time to interact with some of the Ukrainian karatekas participating at the event. Upon the arrival of the delegation in Ukraine, Mr Bubka honoured Valerii Chobotar who claimed the silver medal in the category of Male Kumite -84kg at the 2018 World Championships.