Dusard snatches bronze at ITF World Champs

JAMAICA's Nicholas Dusard returned home with a bronze medal from the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) World Championship in Lido de Jesolo, Italy, last week, marking a successful return from a shoulder surgery.

Put to the knife after leading Jamaica to a historic team-fighting gold at the ITF World Cup in Montego Bay last year, Dusard was inactive all season before choosing the ITF's biggest stage for his comeback.

Stepping up to middleweight, Dusard was stopped in the semi-final of the men's -70kg senior by two-time World Champion Dylan Fitzgibbon of Ireland in the first half of the draw.

Fitzgibbon was beaten by defending World Champion Adam Shelley in an all-Irish affair.

It was an encouraging performance by Dusard, considering he had debuted in the weight category in his first international since surgery.

"I led the entire way and lost in the final two seconds of the match," he said on Saturday. "The only time he led was when he won."

Before facing the much-decorated Fitzgibbon, who won -63kg World Championships in Argentina 2009 and New Zealand 2011, Dusard sliced through the division in ring five, beating Diogo Simoes from Portugal, Joe Karstadt of the USA, Thiago Preto of Brazil and Dmitry Cherkasov of Slovenia, before being stopped in the semis.

Captain of Jamaica's combined martial arts team, Dusard's next assignment will be at the annual US Open in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida, where he will be representing Team Jamaica in the Gold Cup, in addition to individual sparring.