Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 249

agendas who have nothing to do
with the workings of the
Federation. The Federations
should be run by people who are
on the inside and work there, not
by people who arrive en masse
with hidden agendas. It’s
happened in other ambits. Rules
are brought in when things
happen.”
I think it’s a good thing, because
there are WKF member Federations
from more than 180 countries, but
only about 100 of them take part in
the competitions. It makes sense to
me for the others to have no right of
influence.
Does the WKF ask for too much
to organise a very clean World
Championships?
“People say we’re asking for a
lot of money to be able to
organise
a
WKF
World
Championships and a deposit. It
all depends on how you look at it.
I think we ask for very little
money and give a lot in return.
We ask for 30,000 Swiss francs in
air fares for the organising
committee, some Commissions
members, some from the
Executive Committee — not
many – and a few nights’ hotel
rooms, which works out at 240
for junior and 280 for senior. All
the rest is paid for by the WKF.
We ask for a deposit of 40,000
Swiss Francs which will probably
go up a bit soon. Look, Salvador,
it’s like this. Not long ago at a
sporting event there were some
South American NOCs presidents
there including the one from
Peru, they’re organising the 2019
Pan-American Games, and they
asked me about the possibility of
holding a future World Karate
championships there. When I told
them what we were asking for
and what we give in return, he
thought it was cheap! I explained
to him that there are image rights
for the senior events, that we
produce and pay TV, the
international signal, and that we
sell the advertising slots... He
thought it was really chea