SUBRINA RICHARDS, Jamaicas’s top-rated female martial artist, started the year on the red carpet of the Sportsman and Woman of the Year Awards Ceremony.

After being lauded for a phenomenal 2016 season, during which she won double gold medals at three international tournaments, she is pushing it to the limit in 2017.

Richards’ coach, Jason McKay, said he is out to make the world stand up and look at the lanky 20-year-old.

“Her 2016 run was perfect: the first time any Jamaican fighter, of any gender, had ever won six gold medals in three major tournaments in one year.

“This year will be tougher; let’s see what she’s made of,” he said, revealing plans which have Richards down to contest four major world championships this season.

Spurred by her success last season, Richards said she was up to the task after winning four international world titles last year — International Sport Kickboxing Association (ISKA) Amateur Member Association World Championships World Champs in Germany and US Open in Orlando, in addition to the double at World Association of Kickboxing Organisations (WAKO) Pan Am Champs.

“I want to raise the bar, do something nobody has ever done,” she said.

Richards will start her international season by defending double gold medals, starting with June’s ISKA Member Association World Championships in Greece.

In July she takes her show to the International Sport Karate Association’s United States Open in Orlando, Florida, again defending continuous and points sparring gold medals won last year.

In October Richards travels to Ireland for the International Taekwondo Federation World Cup, and even more so a month later when she debuts at WAKO World Championships in Mexico.