Karate secured a place at this year’s Asian Games, European Games, Pacific Games and Pan American Games and will feature at the delayed African Games next year.

But the sport now faces work to do to ensure it remains in those continental events after failing to gain inclusion at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

All five have included the 28 Olympic "core" sports on their respective programmes with many of those offering qualification spots for Paris 2024.

Espinós claimed the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision not to select karate for LA 2028 was a "double penalty".

"The continental Games of the Olympic cycle tend to say that sports that are listed to participate are the Olympic sports," Espinós told insidethegames.

"Then [they have] two, three or four non-Olympic sports so the probability is that to be included as a sport in the continental Games decreases significantly.

"My question is why?

"Why?

"I would like to ask Panam Sports ‘why do you include sports in the Pan American Games that are not at all popular in the Americas but maybe very popular in Asia just because they are Olympic?'

"It is a nonsense.

"The answer is maybe because if they accept them the Pan American Games would be a qualification event for the Olympics.

"What is interesting for them is that they bring the best athletes.

"Do you think if you ask them to a qualification event for the Olympic Games, they will bring their best athletes?

"Do not discriminate a sport like karate that is in condition to prove to you and has always been the case that we will bring the best athletes and at the same time we are popular in all America.

"There are some sports - I don’t want to mention names but everybody knows them - they are not spread in the Americas yet they are in the Pan American Games because they are Olympic.

"It is a double penalty that [the IOC] impose on.

"But they do not care.

"Maybe at times I am thinking that they are not even sensitive because they are not even aware of this.

"They are not concerned about what is going on with their decision and the impact of their decision in some sports."

Espinós also questioned why the continental multi-sport events were being used as Olympic qualifiers when other options were available.

"It should be sports that are popular in the area of the Games and are in condition to get the best athletes, it is as simple as that," added Espinós.

"Why Olympic?

"With this position you are discriminating or giving a disadvantage to those that are not Olympic just because they are not Olympic in this moment.

"They can make the qualification events for the Olympics another way.

"We did it perfectly to be for Tokyo [2020]."