Sat | Jan 11, 2025

Ja fighters leave Germany with six gold medals

Published:Tuesday | October 24, 2023 | 12:07 AMAinsley Walters/Gleaner Writer
Jamaican fighters Richard Stone (left), Nicholas Dusard (third left) and Nicholai Reid (right) are joined by a fan while basking in their eight-medal haul at the October 18-22 International Sport Kickboxing Association’s Amateur Members Association World
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Jamaican fighters Richard Stone (left), Nicholas Dusard (third left) and Nicholai Reid (right) are joined by a fan while basking in their eight-medal haul at the October 18-22 International Sport Kickboxing Association’s Amateur Members Association World Championships in Munich, Germany. Stone, Dusard and Akino Lindsay (not in photograph) won double individual gold medals at the championship.

SATURDAY’s flurry of three gold medals closed Jamaica’s tally on six gold, a silver and bronze at the October 18-22 International Sport Kickboxing Association Amateur Members Association (ISKA AMA) 2023 World Championships in Munich, Germany.

Richard Stone and Akino Lindsay led the way by notching their third double-gold at an ISKA AMA World Championship whereas veteran Nicholas Dusard won his first double at the premier kickboxing and Muay Thai contest by adding the men’s light-heavyweight continuous-sparring title to his middleweight points-sparring crown won on Friday.

Dusard got past Germany’s Leonardo Mazzei in his opening bout, moving to the semi-finals where he fought Goncalo Ferreira from Portugal, advancing to the final in which he beat Thomas Falmad of France.

Stone, who had previously won double-gold in Jamaica 2018 and Ireland 2019, defeated Germany’s Maik Radtke in the heavyweight continuous-sparring final, adding to his points-sparring crown won on Friday.

Stone fought Petr Kazda of the Czech Republic in his opening bout before getting past Radtke for his third double-gold performance, having last won in 2019 at the Neptune Stadium in Cork City, Ireland.

Meanwhile, Lindsay, who last year surpassed Stone as Jamaica’s most decorated ISKA AMA World Championships fighter with double-gold in Turkey – having first achieved the feat in Montego Bay 2018 after continuous-sparring titles in Portugal 2015 and Greece 2017 – fought Philip Tiedemann from Germany in the first round before beating Lars Hinkel in the super-heavyweight continuous-sparring final.

Lindsay’s third double-gold performance, defending both his points and continuous-sparring titles in Germany, puts him on eight ISKA AMA gold medals, one ahead of Stone, who had missed Greece 2017 because of exam commitments.

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

In light-heavyweight continuous-sparring, Reid beat Germany’s Nuc Dam Nguyen in the first round but went down in the second round to eventual silver medallist, France’s Flamad, who Dusard bettered in the final.

Middleweight Delano Francis was injured early and was withdrawn from the competition.