Karate featured at the European Games for its third edition in Poland with its 12 medal events.

Espinós, also President of the European Karate Federation (EKF), expressed his satisfaction with the staging of karate competition at the Games.

"Karate has, once again, demonstrated its excellence at a major multi-sport event," the Spanish official said.

"We have showed the strength of our organisation, the excitement of our competition, and the values of our athletes.

"It has not been easy to reach our third participation at the European Games, but we finally made it a reality, and this event has been a huge success for our sport.

"This success has been possible thanks to our great teamwork."

Espinós reserved particular praise for officials from the EKF and the Polish Karate Union.

"I want to thank EKF general secretary, Davor Cipek, for making everything easy," he said.

"Our special gratitude also goes to Polish Karate Union President Pawel Poltorzecki and the European Games technical delegate Konrad Poltorzecki; without your hard work and your commitment, we surely would not be here in Bielsko-Biała at the European Games.

"Our biggest asset is the excellent people that form this organisation.

"The outstanding progress of karate and the many successes that we have accomplished over the years are thanks to all of you here today.

"With the quality of people of the EKF, we have a bright future."

Four nations, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Spain and Germany, won two karate gold medals at Kraków-Małopolska 2023.

Turkey, Austria and Croatia won one apiece, while Alvin Karaqi earned Albania's first-ever European Games medal in any sport with a gold in the men's kumite under-84 kilograms.

Competition was held in Bielsko-Biała, which is around 100 kilometres from Kraków, as part of the Games' regional model.

Espinós' re-election as WKF President last year extended his tenure which dates back to 1998, with his latest term set to run until 2028.

He has also been head of the EKF since 1997.

Karate debuted at the Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020 as an additional sport, but left off the programme for Paris 2024.

Espinós hit out at the International Olympic Committee and Paris 2024 by claiming the selection of additional sports for next year's Games was "the most opaque process that I have ever seen".

Karate is one of nine sports in contention to be added to the programme for Los Angeles 2028.