Jamaica's Michael Thomas, who finished fourth in power breaking at the International Taekwon-Do World Championship in Quebec, Canada, poses with gold medal winner, Luke Thompson of New Zealand. - Contributed

Ainsley Walters, Freelance Writer

QUEBEC, Canada:

UNSEEDED power breaker Michael Thomas fell just short of winning a bronze medal on Saturday and the Jamaican team almost staged a walkout during team fighting yesterday as more drama unfolded at the 15th International Taekwon-Do Federation World Championship at the Laval University in Quebec, Canada.

Appearing at his fourth World Championship, Thomas shocked opponents from more than 27 countries, including defending champions Japan, former winners New Zealand, as well as England and Poland, by racing into fourth position from the bottom of the draw.

Thomas, who was slated to perform almost last during the near two-hour event, shot to fourth place after breaking four of five mandatory boards.

"I just missed out on gold medal contention," he said.

"If I had broken the reverse turning kick I would have been one of them out there going for the gold," he added.

Thomas, who was fifth at the last World Championship, said the reverse turning kick is a very tough board in power breaking.

"It's one of the harder techniques," he pointed out. "You turn your back to the target first so you don't get to see it in order to go cleanly through the middle.

"If you miss the middle, regardless of how hard you hit the target, it won't break," he explained.

Colourful Luke Thompson of New Zealand, a former world champion, won the event.

Dwayne Brown, Jamaica's final individual competitor on Saturday, exited the first round of the super heavyweight division, beaten by Oskar Malaga.

UGLY

Meanwhile, things almost got ugly yesterday after Jamaica's opening bout in the team competition.

Kenneth Edwards, who was questionably denied victory in the middleweight first round on Saturday, was first out for Jamaica and scored what appeared to be an even easier win over Farid Noor of the Netherlands.

However, the judges ruled in favour of the Dutchmane, who landed one clean kick and spent the rest of the time trying to line up Edwards for a big punch while the Jamaican was nimble and landed shots of his own.

After the result was announced, the Jamaican team was on the verge of walking out but decided against it.

However, their other competitors, clearly distraught by Edwards' loss, were teeming with anger and never settled as they lost back-to-back bouts through Jermaine Lue and Brown.

'POOR OFFICIATING'

"I think it was poor officiating," said coach Claude Chin, pointing to Edwards' bouts. "In his team performance, the difference was clear as day and night but because of protocol I didn't walk out.

"As a member of the organisation, it would have been poor protocol to take the team and walk out. That was the only thing that stopped me," he added.

Jason McKay, who is better known as captain of the Combined Martial Arts Team, hit out at what he described as "blatant dishonesty".

"This is the very reason why the Combined Team will not compete against another country unless we have equal representation in the ring," he said.

"I cannot recall in 20 years of martial arts seeing a decision so obviously opposite to what happened in the fight," he added.

However, he believes fighters such as 13-year-old Grannum and 19-year-old Alrick Wanliss got valuable experience from the tournament.

"This well help them in careers, which will span many tournaments all over the world," he pointed out.

Jamaica are due back home tomorrow, set to start preparations immediately for the Inter-Continental Championships at the United States Open, which starts on July 6 in Orlando, Florida.