Espinós travelled to the USOC’s headquarters in Colorado Springs and met with leading officials at the organisation, including chief executive Scott Blackmun and director of international strategies and development Dragomir Cioroslan.

The meeting was also attended by United States National Karate Federation President John DiPasquale and chief executive Phil Hampel.

The WKF President gave a presentation during the visit, detailing the importance of karate being added to the Olympic programme at Tokyo 2020.

Karate was granted a place at the Games in the Japanese capital at the International Olympic Committee Session in Rio de Janeiro last August.

Espinós expressed karate’s intention to remain an Olympic sport post Tokyo 2020, adding that they hoped to be “an active member of the Olympic movement in years to come”.

The Spaniard also outlined the wish of all karate fans that the sport will remain on the programme at the 2024 Olympic Games, with Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris all in the running to secure the hosting rights for the event.

Other items on the agenda included the development of karate in North America.

The representatives from the WKF and the USOC spoke about the growth of the sport before Espinós unveiled plans to increase the popularity of karate in the region.

Last month, Espinós met with French Karate Federation (FKF) President Francis Didier in Madrid to discuss the upcoming Karate1 Premier League event in Paris – the first major international event of the year.

The Paris leg of the Karate1 Premier League will take place at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium sports hall in the French capital between January 27 and 29.

Didier and Espinós discussed ways to further expand the tournament, which the WKF hope will set new records in terms of "attendance and magnificence".

Nearly 1,000 competitors from 72 countries competed at the 2016 edition, where hosts France topped the standings thanks to a haul of 16 medals.