Pavlov secured his third-place finish in the kumite 60 kilogrammes karate event, while Nestorovski also claimed success in the sport as he won bronze in the over 84kg competition.

Both athletes received €1,500 (£1,100/$1,700) for their achievements, which was given to them by the European Olympic Committees.

The ceremony was attended by MOC President Vasil Tupurkovski as well as coach Peter Belistojanovski, who was rewarded with pictures of his athletes’ bronze medal matches as special mementos.

Pavlov proved too strong for Serbian Marko Antic to seal his spot on the podium on June 13, with Nestorovski cruising to a dominant 8-0 win in his match with Slobodan Bitević, also of Serbia, the following day.

Speaking at the ceremony, the two karatekas both expressed their wish for their sport to be included on the Olympic programme for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

Karate is one of several sports being considered for selection for the Olympics in five years’ time along with baseball and softball, widely considered the favourite to be included after it was axed following Beijing 2008, squash, bowling, sport climbing, roller sports and wushu.

A decision is due to be made by the Tokyo 2020 Additional Events Programme Panel towards the end of September, where they will put an unspecified number of sports forward to the International Olympic Committee.

Macedonia took a team of 54 athletes to the European Games in the Azerbaijani capital who competed in athletics, gymnastics, sambo and karate.