SHOUCAIR

Ainsley Walters, Freelance Writer

THE selection process has been completed and respective teams chosen for the Continental World Championships set to take place at the United States Martial Arts Open, which will be held at Disneyland in Orlando, Florida on July 6 and 7.

New Zealand, who finished ahead of hot favourites Japan and Australia at the recent International Tae kwon Do Federation (ITF) World Championships in Quebec, Canada, will represent the Asia-Pacific region.

England, who won their selection before the World Championships, will represent Europe whereas Jamaica's Combined Martial Arts Team, the Busta Fighters, will carry the hopes of the Pan-Am region.

Host country, the United States, grabbed the final spot due to the absence of a representative from the African continent.

Do or die

It's do or die for Jamaica as their claim of having the world's best continuous fighting team will be put to the test with each region of the world represented in the top-four spectacular.

A lot will depend on microweight Alrick Wanliss, Kenneth Edwards, who suffered questionable decisions at the ITF World Championships, dependable Arthur Barrows, the 'gentle giant' Dwayne Brown and defending U.S. Open gold medallist, Sean Cummings,as well as defending gold medallist and captain, Jason McKay.

Jamaica's biggest threat must be New Zealand, who had a strong showing in Quebec, as well as the U.S.A., captained by Alvin Bernard, who has promised to put together an unbeatable squad.

Expecting great things

Jamaica Beverages, which will be footing the bill for the Busta Fighters as well as being primary sponsor for the Continental World Championships - as part of the company's global marketing thrust - has committed approximately US$60,000 to the tournament.

Jamaica Beverages' general manager, Paul Shoucair, said he is expecting great things from the tournament.

"We expect to win," he said. "The team is unofficially ranked as one of the top teams in the world and I expect us to go to the U.S. Open and cement that," he pointed out.

Shoucair compared the Busta Fighters to Jamaica's bobsledders.

"These guys must be ranked as one of the greatest achievers in Jamaican sport alongside the bobsled team in that you're not expected to do well in a particular sport.

"When you're coming up against teams such as the U.S.A., Poland, the Far East and beating those teams, that must be something else and it's really a pleasure and honour to sponsor them," he added.