AKINO Lindsay and Richard Stone, the world’s two most decorated International Sports Kick-Boxing Association Amateur Members Association fighters (ISKA AMA) — holders of a combined 18 gold medals in tatami competition — further etched their names into the island’s rich sporting history books by paddling Jamaica to bronze in the 200-metre Major Mixed Final at the fourth Bahamas Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, on August 30 and 31.

Members of Jamaica’s combined martial arts team, which represented McKay Security’s winning mixed team at the Jamaica Dragon Boat Festival May 31-June 1, Lindsay and Stone’s athleticism played a major role in Jamaica’s historic bronze on its international debut, competing against crack teams from the Caribbean and North America.

Though no stranger to breaking barriers, winning a fourth double-gold in Vienna, Austria, last year for 10 consecutive gold medals at the ISKA AMA World Championships, Lindsay was excited at medalling in a completely new sport with a relatively short period of training.

“With additional training and a bigger squad, we could have swept Bahamas. Hopefully, next year, with more training, we will improve synchronisation,” Lindsay, 30, said, looking forward to next May, the festival brought forward to avoid the hurricane season.

“We might have started training two months before the festival but it was only weekends, eight or nine days. If we had more time, we could have done better. Also, the conditions in The Bahamas were choppier than Port Royal.”

Stone, a 32-year-old medical doctor with eight ISKA AMA gold medals to his name, said he was proud of Jamaica’s achievements in The Bahamas.

“Despite having a few months’ training, taking on a new sport, I am very proud of the team, medalling against teams doing it for years at a high level. We not only made the 200-metre Major Mixed Final in which we won bronze but also qualified for the Minor Open Final, Division A, as a mixed team,” he said.

Lindsay and Stone were paddlers on Jamaica’s mixed and open teams, which won both their second-round races.

“We had to juggle between the open and mixed team, which put us at a disadvantage against the bigger squads, especially persons such as myself and Lindsay, who were at the front of the boat for both teams,” Stone explained.

“The other open teams had fresh guys. For us to have competed against world-class teams under those circumstances, winning two races, that was great.

“We didn’t get much rest time between races. If we could operate at that level without much rest, it means we have significant talent and will capitalise with bigger squads next time around.”

Lindsay agreed, serving warning ahead of May 2-3, 2026.

“I believe in eight months’ time we will be much better. We weren’t beaten by far for bronze nor in the open final,” he said.