Van Roon the danger

Ainsley Walters, Gleaner Writer

COACH Claude Chin is confident Jamaica will win a fourth straight Tri-Asian Championship title in the Philippines this weekend, but fears one man from the opposing team - New Zealand's Carl van Roon.

A double gold medallist at the 2011 International Taekwondo Federation World Championship in Wellington in March, 27-year-old van Roon gave New Zealand its first gold medal in heavyweight individual sparring.

He stood out on a day when New Zealand won five gold medals in his hometown of Wellington. His first gold came in special technique - the high flying kick - his fifth consecutive World Championship gold in a row in the event.

Van Roon afterwards became the first New Zealander to win a title in the heavyweight individual senior sparring.

He dispatched American Carlos Resende with an emphatic 4-0 victory in the semi-finals and then showed his true range of skills with some spectacular moves to beat Matias Bustamante of Argentina by the same margin in the final.

Van Roon is no stranger to Jamaica. He scored two sensational victories on his way to landing the individual heavyweight title during the International Sports Karate Association World Team Sparring Championship at the National Indoor Sports Centre in July 2010.

The 6' 2" tall and lightning-fast Kiwi leads a select Pacific-Asia three-man team against Jamaica who are not at their strongest, but remain confident of being the best team fighters in the world after going unbeaten for 43 matches.

The job to stop van Roon rests with Kenneth Edwards, Jamaica's leading martial artist. Edwards was beaten by van Roon last year at home.

stronger team-sparring fighter

However, Chin believes Edwards is a stronger team-sparring fighter than the New Zealander, who has the distinction of being crowned best overall fighter at consecutive World Championships - 2009 in Mar Del Plata, Argentina and last year at home.

Edwards has a perfect record in sparring for the combined martial arts team, undefeated in 40-odd bouts.

Saturday's match-up could turn out to be a contest between the individually decorated van Roon and the team-fighting champion, Edwards.

Chin believes the man who best adapts will hand his team victory.

"Van Roon is the individual champion whereas Kenneth rules in team sparring, so it will be quite an interesting rematch," he said.