J’can fighters grab gold in Oregon

Top Jamaica combined martial arts team members Kenneth Edwards and Nicholas Dusard showed their class at last weekend's International Taekwondo Federation West Coast Qualifiers in Hood River, Oregon. The duo grabbed gold after blowing past rivals in the preliminaries.

In his final, Edwards avenged the 2016 loss of former teammate Jason McKay to Lawrence Archer, clinically beating the American despite a tough stand by the powerful super heavyweight.

Former captain McKay, fighting unattached for the first time in 23 years after failing to qualify for this season's combined team, also won gold, defeating Zenk Murray of the United States.

Meanwhile, Dusard easily got past Padgett Brendon before defeating highly fancied Amani Bernard in the American's bid to make a winning comeback to the mat. Bernard is the son of Master Alvin Bernard, who helped prepare Edwards for Jamaica's historic showing in tae kwon do at the London 2012 Olympics.

A.W.