VETERAN Jamaica combined martial arts team Coach Claude Chin has described Jamaica’s six-medal haul at the International Sports Kickboxing Association World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, as its richest ever, surpassing in quality 10 medals won last year in Portugal.

Jamaica ended the May 18-22 tournament with six medals — three gold, two silver and a bronze — compared with last year’s two gold, six silver and two bronze.

Chin pointed out that Subrina Richards’ achievements of not only defending her points-sparring gold, but adding the continuous-sparring title to her tiara, ranks among the most historic feat ever by a local martial artist, especially on foreign soil.

Chin, who coached the senior male team of heavyweight gold medal winner Richard Stone and light heavyweight silver-medal winner Adrian Moore, praised both on their showing at the championships.

“Both of them performed creditably well. I was very surprised with Richard as he went through three gruelling fights to get gold. It was a very good performamce, considering this was his first ISKA World Championships,” Chin pointed out.

Moore went down in a close final, facing back-to-back fighters from the host country. He was hoping to win gold after winning bronze in Holland 2012.

“Adrian also had a creditable performance as he lost a very close fight to get silver. I am very proud of both of them,” he added.

Jamaica’s squad was one of the smallest at the championships. The island’s martial artists first attended the ISKA World Champs in Holland 2012 when Oshane Murray won gold. Jason McKay, Nicholas Dusard and Moore took home bronze.

Meanwhile, Jamaica is set to host its second major international martial arts tournament, the 2018 International Sports Kickboxing Association (ISKA) World Championship, after being announced as winning the bid during the May 18-22 championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

The announcement came after four years of assessment by ISKA, which included observers being sent to evaluate Jamaica during its hosting of the 2014 International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) World Cup at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

Jason McKay, who led Jamaica’s bid and had promoted the successful ITF World Cup, the second time the event was being held in the western hemisphere, described the announcement as “a major coup”.

“It was a testament to the work done in 2014 by the Jamaica Taekwon-Do Association and the Jamaica Tourist Board,” the martial arts veteran told the Jamaica Observer.