The Congress of the European Karate Federation was held Tuesday in Pore

The Congress of the European Karate Federation was held Tuesday in Porec (Croatia). A new chapter in the history of Karate in Europe was unveiled with the election of the new Executive Committee of the organisation.

The ten newly elected members were designated by the EKF Congress in the elective process today. The EKF’s decision-making body is now composed of Yashar Bashirov of Azerbaijan, Jiri Bocek of the Czech Republic, Davor Cipek of Croatia, Francis Didier of France, Michael Dinsdale of England, Anton Gavrilov of Russia, Sergey Levchuk of Ukraine, Slavoljub Piper of Serbia, Georg Russbacher of Austria, and Wolfgang Weigert of Germany.

The meeting of the plenary session of European Karate had representatives of all 47 National Federations attending the event. The EKF Congress expressed their deepest condolences for the passing of the beloved members of the European Karate family, Yrsa Lindqvist, and Esat Delihasan.

Reports on the last editions of the European Games and EUSA Championships and progress reports on the upcoming 2023 European Games were presented. The evaluation of the different technical matters and the approval of the financial statement of the organisation were also discussed. 

Presentations of the upcoming WKF Youth Camp to be held in Porec (Croatia), the 2021 EKF Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships to take place in Tampere (Finland), the 2022 EKF Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships to be celebrated in Prague (Czech Republic), and the 2022 EKF Senior Championships in Gaziantep (Turkey) were also introduced.

The long-term planning of EKF events was also approved, with the Senior Championships going to Russia in 2023, Split (Croatia) in 2024, and Baku (Azerbaijan) in 2025. Meanwhile, the underage European Championships will be travelling to Cyprus in 2023, Georgia in 2024 and Poland in 2025. The Congress also accepted the bid of Cyprus to host the underage European Championships in 2026 while the 2026 Senior Championships will remain under further discussions and evaluations.

“Despite the challenging times, we have a bright future ahead of us. Thanks to the hard work of all of you here and all the members of the European Karate family, we can continue writing new chapters of our history. In fact, a brand-new era of our sport is inaugurated today with the election of the new Executive Committee, and I would like to congratulate the newly elected members. I appreciate all your support and I am sure that all of you will do your utmost to maintain the level of efficiency and unity that our organisation has demonstrated over the last years,” said EKF and WKF President Antonio Espinós.

Croatian Karate Union President Davor Cipek and EKF and WKF President Antonio Espinós. 

The EKF Congress elected the new EKF Executive Committee