By Ainsley Walters, Freelance Writer

( L - R ) Alrick Wanliss, Arthur Barrows - File photos

JAMAICA's first black belt invitational, the fourth and final leg of the Busta Martial Arts League, is set for this Saturday morning, November 10, at the UTech auditorium.

The island's top 20 black belt fighters will square off for the title of grand champion with $50,000 going to the top male and $25,000 for the champion female.

Veteran Arthur Barrows, now a middleweight, leads the men's division with nine points, pursued by his Tae Kwon Do teammate and Montego Bay lightweight, Alrick Wanliss.

Seido Karate's Omar Rose, a middleweight, is also on eight points, taking aim at Barrows with the American Paul Williams next in contention on seven points in the heavyweight division.

The women's title is set to be a straight fight between Tae Kwon Do teenager Alo Wanliss, who is on eight points, and the veteran Jamaica Seido fighter, Enid Plummer, who has seven.

14 competitors

The women's division has a total of six contenders whereas the men's field is a huge contingent with 14 competitors.

Wanliss and Plummer will be joined by the likes of Debra Chin and Sherika Cunningham in the women's division.

The top invited men fighters include lightweights Nicholas Dussard, David Hall, Alrick Wanliss and Ricardo Lewis. The middleweight division will feature Omar Rose, Arthur Barrows, Jermaime Lue and Nigel Gardener with Sean Cummings, Dwayne Brown, Dwayne Biggs, Andre Alexander, Bruce McFarlane and Shai Shakoura.

Divisional winners are set to pocket $10,000 each in the biggest prize money ever offered at a local martial arts tournament.

Points were garnered from three previous tournaments, the Busta Tae Kwon Do Open in April, the McKay World Zendo Open in May and the Busta Seido Open in June.

The draw will take place at a special press conference and dinner to be held on Thursday.

Jason McKay, captain of the Jamaica Combined Martial Arts team and organiser of the Blackbelt League, said it has impacted tremendously on the local scene.

"What was once a small turnout of black belts has exploded," he said, "contributing to half of the competitors in local tournaments.

"There is more than $100,000 in prizes on offer and winners of every division, male or female, get equal prize money of $10,000," McKay pointed out.