The Spaniard spoke after the sport celebrated the one year anniversary of its inclusion at sport's top table.

Karate was accepted an Olympic sport on August 3, 2016 at the International Olympic Committee Session prior to the Rio 2016 Games.

Baseball/Softball, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were also accepted for the programme in Tokyo.

While baseball and softball will return to the Olympic programme, the other four sports are all set to debut in the Japanese capital.

"As we look back to that emotional day of August just a year ago, we cannot help but feel tremendously honoured for having experienced that moment," said Espinós, also the President of the European Karate Federation.

"Everything that has happened this year just shows us that the best is yet to come.

"The remarkable increase of participants in all WKF events since the inclusion of the sport in the programmes of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 is a clear sign of the growing popularity of karate.

"This growth is the consequence of the excitement of karatekas ahead of the promising future of the sport, and the result of the outstanding efforts by the WKF to enhance the quality of karate events around the world.

"It is our aim to continue having a competitive, effective and spectacular sport so karate can further expand its continued success as we start approaching our milestone of the inclusion of karate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games."

Celebrations to mark the one-year milestone were held around the world.