Lindsay, Stone mine gold on opening day

AKINO Lindsay and Richard Stone, Jamaica’s two most decorated International Sport Kickboxing Association Amateur Members Association (ISKA AMA) fighters, got off to a flying start on Thursday’s opening day of the 2023 World Championships in Munich, Germany, snagging gold medals in their respective weight divisions.

On a mission to bag eight gold medals at the kickboxing and Muay Thai championships, Jamaica started on point with Lindsay, a two-time double gold medal winner and defending champion in points and continuous sparring, mining his ninth gold in five World Championships by defeating Ukrainian Oles Chudovskyi in the super-heavyweight (90kg) semi-contact (point-sparring) final.

Lindsay recovered from a slow start to dominate his opponent on the way to Jamaica’s first gold and defence of his title won at the Daima Sports Complex in Kemer, Turkey, last year. Should Lindsay successfully defend his continuous-sparring title, for which he was scheduled to take the mat last night, the Jamaican would join teammate Stone in completing a triple-double of points and continuous-sparring gold medals, having first achieved the feat in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 2018.

Stone landed Jamaica’s second gold in heavyweight point-sparring, beating Germany’s Sven Lembcke in a closely contested final. Similar to Lindsay, Stone was set to take the mat last night, hunting continuous-sparring gold to add to his already outstanding record at the championships, having completing a hat-trick of double-gold performances in 2019 at the Neptune Stadium in Cork City, Ireland.

Nicholas Dusard, Nicholai Reid and Delano Francis were also due to fight last night in their respective point-sparring divisions.

Jamaica hope to better their best-ever medal haul overseas at an (ISKA AMA) World Championships at the October 18-22 event, having won seven gold at the 2019 championships in Cork City, Ireland, a major feat, considering only three fighters had travelled for the event.

Since returning to international competitions, Jamaica’s Combined Martial Arts Team has won four world medals, three gold and one bronze. Lindsay’s double-gold in Turkey, added to Dusard topping the ESPN Night of Champions taekwon-do battle at the 2022 United States Open and bronze won at the International Taekwon-Do Federation’s World Cup in Koper, Slovenia.