Toka suspended without explanation

The Karate Federation's Board of Directors decided to initiate disciplinary proceedings against EKF Referee A, Toko Raičević, with a suspension until the case is resolved.

Raičević was "suspended" from the European Cadet, Junior and Young Senior Championships in Limassol for a full 24 hours without any explanation.

"The reason for the so-called "suspension" is apparently my announcement on one of the Montenegrin television stations, because I said that the president of the EKF, Antonio Espinosa, is old and that it would be better for our sport if a younger cadre with greater ambitions came. I don't know what his motive could be anymore. However, someone "from people I know" sent Espinosa that announcement, subtitled in English. I sent questions and asked for explanations from the EKF, the Balkan Federation, but without an answer," says Raičević.

He has only received today's Decision of the KSCG for now. And Espinosa is the president of both the world WKF and the European EKF federation. He has been at the head of the EKF since 1997, and at the head of the WKF, just a year less - a full 28 years.

"The inconvenience and humiliation I experienced at the peak of my career as a European Karate Referee resulted only in a notification, without explanation, from my home Federation," Raičević informed and added:

"Of course, I was betrayed by my own people, because who will turn their backs on whom? This is the same current that defeated me a few months ago in the elections for the President of the Assembly. Now this current would like to "tear" the head of its judge, because they have to flatter Espinosa in preparation for the European Senior Championship in Podgorica in 2028. I maintain that Espinosa has occupied all the positions for too long, even too long, and that a change is needed in the form of a younger and more agile president," Raičević does not give up.

He believes that the accumulated problems in the EKF and WKF will reach the arbitration court in Lausanne.

"Imagine that the EKF and WKF are non-profit organizations according to their Statutes, that decisions can be made without a quorum in favor of the president... I am glad to be the initiator of something that everyone has been sadly silent about, and I hope that I am the last judge, competitor, selector, or any official person who has been tortured by that structure. Sitting in a corner without an explanation is beneath principles and human values," concluded Raičević.