McKay: Great time in Ja’s martial-arts history

COACH JASON McKay on Sunday hailed Richard Stone, Nicholas Dusard and Akino Lindsay as “undoubtedly the best tatami kickboxers in the world” after the Jamaicans each won double individual gold medals – Dusard’s first but third for Lindsay and Stone – at an International Sport Kickboxing Association Amateur Members Association (ISKA AMA) World Championships.

International Sports Karate Association 2023 United States Open gold-medallist Nicholai Reid won silver in light-heavyweight points-sparring and bronze in continuous sparring, ensuring Jamaica left Munich, Germany, with eight medals.

“It is a great time in our martial-arts history when we can field a team that includes fighters who you can guarantee will be able to walk through the world’s best,” McKay said of Jamaica’s eight-medal performance from four fighters at the October 18-22 kickboxing and muay thai world championship.

“I am proud of this showing. We fell just short of expectations because they combined weight brackets in continuous sparring, making it impossible for Nicholas (Dusard) and Nicholai (Reid) to win separate gold medals being in the same division. In addition, Delano’s (Francis) early injury made the eight-gold ambition impossible,” McKay pointed out, adding, “It was still the best showing of any team, based on size, with us winning 70 per cent of possible gold medals.”

A tatami (mat) and ring-fighting world championship, Jamaica twice hosted the ISKA AMA’s tatami events at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, the last being 2018, sparkling in continuous and points sparring with 118 medals – 27 gold, 35 silver and 56 bronze – bettered only by England’s 126, finishing third, in terms of medal quality, behind the United States.

However, being unable to fund a big contingent to Europe, Jamaica has had to settle for small but effective teams such as the five-man squad to Germany 2023 and the three fighters who had travelled to the 2019 championships in Cork City, Ireland, winning seven medals, five gold, a silver and a bronze.

After watching Jamaica pull off their best-ever ISKA AMA overseas performance at the weekend – six gold, a silver and bronze – a squad reduced to four following Delano Francis’ early exit through injury – McKay bemoaned the lack of funding and national recognition of the fighters.

ISKA Jamaica, sponsored by McKay Security, oversees the sport of kickboxing locally, including hosting local martial arts championships. The organisation is also the controlling arm of the Jamaica combined martial arts team and sponsors the Jamaican contingent to the annual ISKA United States Open in Orlando, Florida.

“Jamaica must not take this accomplishment for granted. We have just shone in front of the world, defeating Europe’ s best. It was not always so. When we first entered in 2012, we struggled to win one world title with a larger team.

“These fighters trained like animals for Germany 2023. Coach Claude Chin had them for eight months before I got them for eight weeks of final preparation. Jamaica’s martial arts accomplishments are bettered only by track and field, yet we are never considered, in the overall category, for Sportsman or Sportswoman of the Year,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, McKay said, similar to track and field, Jamaica needs to ensure there are quality junior fighters coming through the ranks to replace Dusard, Stone and Lindsay, who are all in their 30s or close.

“We have to start planning for the future. We need juniors on the world stage, competing to replace our current champions,” said McKay, who also funded the high-school martial arts league before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

McKay believes the tight-knit martial arts community, though of varying disciplines, will continue supporting his ‘combined-team’ philosophy.

“The Jamaican martial arts community is alive and well and the combined team has an open-door, an invitation for to them to send their fighters to our qualifiers in February to start the process of making them international superstars,” he said.