Ainsley Walters, Freelance Writer

JAMAICA'S COMBINED martial arts team, the Busta Fighters, on Friday scored a convincing 3-1 victory over hosts the United States to lift the first Busta Continental World Team Championship at the International Sports Karate Association (ISKA) United States Open, staged at the ABC Wide World of Sports in Disneyland, Orlando, Florida.

Teenager Alrick Wanliss, Kenneth Edwards and the veteran Arthur Barrows produced outstanding performances in the final against the United States after advancing past England in the first round.

Wanliss, Edwards and Barrows propelled Jamaica to a 3-0 win over England. However, the final score did not reflect the competitiveness of the first-round match.

In some instances, no more than one point separated Jamaica's winning trio from their opponents in the five-man team contest.

Meanwhile, New Zealand, boasting no fewer than four gold medallists from the recent International Taekwon-Do Federation's (ITF) World Championship in Quebec, Canada, lost a nail-biting first-round match to the U.S.

Down to fourth fight

The bout went down to the fourth fight as the first fighters on the mat battled to a draw before the U.S. won back-to-back matches.

New Zealand missed out on the final after Carl Van Roon was held to a draw by Eric Skinner in the fourth match.

In the final, the impressive microweight Wanliss shocked the veteran Alvin Bernard, proving most effective with the reverse turning kick and his agility.

Bernard failed to match Wanliss' quick points and was too far behind on the judges' card to stage a rally against the quick Jamaican.

Edwards, who missed some of his techniques in his first-round match against England's Matt Cadle, was spot on against Skinner, landing his first point, a three-pointer, by socking his opponent with a head punch.

Still stunned by Edwards, Skinner had to retrieve his headgear following the Jamaican's second scoring shot, a reverse turning kick.

Cruising 2-0 up, Jamaica sent out Dwayne Brown but the heavyweight lacked movement early and was beaten by George Kayumov. Brown's lack of mobility was made worse by a hip injury after he fell from the platform.

With the match precariously poised at 2-1, Barrows took the mat with the Jamaican contingent apprehensive after his ordinary performance in the first round against England's Felix Kelly.

Spring of a teen

However, it was a transformed Barrows who returned with the spring of a teenager to run rings around the dangerous Demetri Kim, a first-round winner for the U.S. against New Zealand's Jeremy Hanna.

Kim was totally outpointed by a hyped Barrows, afterwards leading to commendation from respected umpire Kurt Ottesen, who was the man in the middle for all the bouts.

"Barrows had a fabulous match," said Ottesen, a Canadian, who is a member of the ITF's umpiring committee and head of the Pan-Am Referees Commission.

Ottesen also praised Jamaica for the progress made in the sport especially over the past 10 years.

"They're really coming up," he said. "I've been following them since 1997 and every time I see them they keep moving a step up.

"At first, they were fast but now they're more technical and the guys are in great shape," he added, pointing out that the opposition was no pushover.

"What we had here today was teams from within the top four in the world," Ottesen said. "New Zealand have risen to number five and England have always been up there."