Mon | Dec 8, 2025

Lindsay wants more

Published:Monday | February 17, 2025 | 10:00 AMAinsley Walters/Gleaner Writer
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Akino Lindsay poses with his award for winning eight consecutive gold medals at the International Sport Kickboxing Association Amateur Members Association World Championships.
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Akino Lindsay poses with his award for winning eight consecutive gold medals at the International Sport Kickboxing Association Amateur Members Association World Championships.
Akino Lindsay wants to keep flying higher.
Gladstone Taylor
Akino Lindsay wants to keep flying higher.
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HAVING WON a third Category Award for excellence in taekwondo at last month’s annual RJRGLEANER Sports Foundation Sportsman and Sportswoman Awards ceremony - in addition to being recognised by Europe’s International Sport Kick Boxing Association (ISKA) Amateur Members Association (AMA) for a world-record eight consecutive individual gold medals - Akino Lindsay has sights set on conquering old and new territories this year.

Lindsay, who broke his own world record at last October’s ISKA AMA World Championships in Vienna, Austria, three consecutive double-gold performances after winning points and continuous sparring titles in 2018, 2022 and 2023, said he is aiming at two crowns which have eluded him as well as making an international foray into cage fighting.

“It was a good year,” said the 29-year-old. “The awards proved that the hard work paid off. It is always good to know you’re recognised for hard work. It is motivation to reap more rewards,” he added.

Mother Nature, Hurricane Beryl, grounded Lindsay last July, denying him a chance to face Irishman Leard Xheladini on Night of Champions at the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) World Championship title bout at the International Sports Karate Association (ISKA) United States Open in Orlando, Florida.

Lindsay, who lost to teammate Nicholas Dusard on Night of Champions in 2021, said he wants that title on his résumé this summer before heading off to the ITF World Championships set for Croatia in October and his international cage-fighting debut at the ISKA AMA World Championships in Brisbane, Australia.

“I lost to my teammate, Dusard, at US Open Night of Champions 2021 in Orlando,” Lindsay recalled. “It is always difficult fighting a teammate. When you train with an experienced and accomplished guy such as Dusard, it will always be difficult to beat him,” he noted.

“However, I am sure I would have won gold were it not for the hurricane last year. I am happy another teammate, Richard Stone, won gold. However, I am going all out this year at the US Open, no matter who is standing in front me,” he added.

The ITF World Championships, dominated mainly by Europeans, has always proven a stumbling block for Jamaica’s fighters. However, Lindsay said he needs an ITF World Championship medal to feel “complete”.

“I haven’t got a lot of experience in ITF. However, we are making a run at ITF gold this year and afterwards ISKA AMA full contact, not tatami but ring sport,” he pointed out.

“I have some cage-fighting experience in Jamaica, the Rough Fight League, back in 2019. However, I will stick with the tried and proven methods of my coaches, Claude Chin and Jason McKay. They go to seminars and tournaments and return with the knowledge. It has never failed me before.”