Dussard sets sights on 2012

NICHOLAS DUSSARD, who on Saturday won the Pan-Am International Tae kwon do Federation (ITF) lightweight title, said he is ready to give 2012 Olympic qualifying a shot, starting with the Central American and Caribbean cham-pionships in Trinidad later this month.

The 18-year-old Wol-merian, who won his first regional title as a junior, taking Pan-Am gold in 2004 in Paraguay, created local martial arts history in Brazil on Saturday, becoming the first Jamaican to win a senior ITF gold medal, doing so on his senior debut.

Overlooked

Dussard had his sights set on attending the 2008 Beijing qualifiers in Colombia last December, but was the victim of ITF and World Tae kwon do Federation (WTF) politics, which resulted in him being overlooked.

The WTF is aligned to the International Olympic Committee and practises mainly foot-fighting tech-niques as opposed to the ITF, which incorporates the use of fists.

"I was introduced to the Olympic style last August and I did some training clinics with Alvin Bernard in New York in preparation for the Olympic qualifiers in Colombia," Dussard said.

"However, I did not go as the WTF in Jamaica sent someone else, who they thought was more seasoned in that style and would had a better chance," he explained.

The determined teenager said he would be going all out to qualify for 2012.

"It will take another four years but I will get there," he said.