Moore makes US Open return

July 17, 2025
Adrian Moore
Adrian Moore

ADRIAN Moore, the first graduate of the McKay Security Jamaica Taekwondo Association High School Martial Arts League to skipper the Jamaica combined martial arts team as a 25-year-old in 2017, returns from a five-year hiatus for the 2025 International Sport Karate Association's US Open, which gets under way in Orlando, Florida, tomorrow.

Moore, 34, last competed at the US Open in 2019, winning continuous-sparring gold in the -184lb division, Jamaica's record-breaking year of 19 gold, 15 silver and 20 bronze medals at the world's biggest martial arts open.

A former Jamaica College fighter, who took over the combined team's reins from the US Open's most-decorated competitor, teammate Nicholas Dusard, Moore said he doesn't fear the young guns at the open.

"They might be younger but I have been in training since last September. I have been fine-tuning for the last two weeks and expect to be on the podium this weekend," he said.

Moore was a mainstay on the combined team, which went unbeaten for 53 international matches in team fighting, extending their record from International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) championships to their foray into the International Sport Kick-Boxing Association (Europe) Amateur Members Association (ISKA AMA) World Championships.

Moore was one of four Jamaicans to first fight at the ISKA AMA World Championships, Holland 2012, among a trio of bronze-medal winners, Jason McKay and Dusard, topped by Oshane Murray, who won the country's first gold at the tournament.

In 2018, Moore fought alongside Dusard, Kenneth Edwards, Akino Lindsay and Ackeem Lawrence to lift the ISKA AMA World Championships team-fighting gold at home, cheered on by supporters inside the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

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