Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 241

Interview
World Federation and the organisation
of the master Hidetaka Nishiyama, was
always rather strange, because
besides Nishiyama many merits as a
master (as other people have), it
seemed odd that he should have so
much clout on the Olympic issue when
his organisation was not remotely
comparable with the World Karate
Federation in terms of its size and
reach. It was also odd that such a
traditional master as Nishiyama should
have fought so hard for an issue
affecting karate as a sport. It was all
quite bizarre.
In 1997 Antonio Espinós was
awarded the Spain silver medal for
sporting merit, and the following year
he was elected at last as the President
of the World Karate Federation.
Antonio Espinós was awarded the
Spain gold medal for sporting merit in
2002, he was re-elected as the
President of the European Federation
in 2001, and in 2004 he was also reelected as the WKF President. He still
holds both offices today, and with hard
work, clear ideas [