Karate

    Tokyo 2020 is proposing an original process to choose the Olympic and Paralympic mascots. A national competition open to all people living in Japan was presented on 22 May. A shortlist drawn up by a panel of experts will then be submitted to all of the country’s schoolchildren, who will vote to decide upon the winners!

     In Rio in 2016, a public vote was organised to choose the name of the Olympic and Paralympic mascots. For the Olympic Games, over 320,000 voters were registered, and “Vinicius” was chosen in homage to Brazilian musician Vinicius de Moraes. Vinicius was a mix of various animals from Brazilian fauna. His design was inspired by pop culture and characters from video games and animation. With his Paralympic Games counterpart, Vinicius represented the diversity of the Brazilian culture and people, as well as its abundant nature.

    Antonio Espinós Ortueta was re-elected as President of the European Karate Federation in the plenary session of the EKF being held in Kocaeli (Turkey). The re-election of Antonio Espinós, took place after the Spaniard received, by secret voting,  42 out of the 42 votes of the same number of National Federations with voting rights attending the Congress. 

   Antonio Espinós, who has occupied the position since 1997, will therefore continue leading the organisation for a new six-year term.