Kickboxers put together powerful line-up for Spain World Champs

Jamaica’s kickboxers are putting the finishing touches on their preparations as they seek to defend their titles at the International Sport Kickboxing Association Amateur Members Association (ISKA AMA) 2026 World Championships at the Las Olivas Sports Complex in Madrid, Spain, from November 5-8.

Although Jamaica will travel without Nicholas Dusard, the country’s most successful international martial artist, the five-member squad is determined to surpass last year’s tally of seven gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

Dusard brought the curtain down on his international career at age 36 after capturing a sixth ISKA AMA gold medal in Brisbane, Australia, last year.

Akino Lindsay, the most decorated ISKA AMA tatami (mat) fighter in the world, is strongly favoured to extend his dominance of the -90kg division. He enters the championships having won an unprecedented five consecutive World Championship double-gold medals in semi- and light-contact sparring.

Lindsay was recognised by ISKA in 2024 for what was then a world-record run of eight consecutive individual gold medals through 2023. He has since added four more individual gold medals, securing double-gold performances in 2024 and 2025.

His remarkable run includes double-gold successes in Turkey in 2022, Munich, Germany, in 2023, Vienna, Austria, in 2024, and Brisbane in 2025. That record has taken his ISKA AMA gold medal tally to 13, comprising 12 individual medals and one team gold won on home soil in 2018.

Lindsay first announced himself on the world stage with gold and silver medals on his debut in Portugal in 2015 before repeating the achievement in Greece two years later.

Meanwhile, Richard Stone, who until 2023 appeared poised to surpass Lindsay’s tally of ISKA AMA titles after winning both the light- and semi-contact crowns in Munich, is being pushed hard in training as he seeks to regain his light-contact form.

Stone exited both Austria and Brisbane with bronze medals after securing semi-contact gold in the -85kg division. Following his double-gold performance in Munich in 2023, he stood just one medal away from overtaking Lindsay.

Stone won his first tatami title in Germany in 2016 before adding double-gold performances in Jamaica in 2018 and Ireland in 2019.

Also returning to defend titles is Nicholai Reid, who secured double gold in Brisbane in different weight categories, winning semi-contact at -80kg and light contact at -75kg.

The achievement marked Reid’s first double-gold performance at an ISKA AMA World Championships, joining Lindsay, Stone and Dusard as the only Jamaican male fighters to accomplish the feat.

Adrian Moore, a member of Jamaica’s first team to compete at the ISKA AMA World Championships in 2012, is aiming to improve on the double silver medals he won in Brisbane after returning from an eight-year hiatus last year.

Moore’s previous appearance at the championships came when Jamaica hosted the event in Montego Bay in 2018.

Sharic Bowen completes Jamaica’s line-up. The youngest member of the squad captured his first international title in Brisbane, winning semi-contact gold at his first ISKA AMA World Championships.

Brisbane was Bowen’s second overseas tour after making his international debut with the combined martial arts team at the United States Open in July 2025.