MARTIAL arts star Oshane Murray remains in intensive care at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) following a cheerleading accident at the University of Technology (UTech) on Wednesday, January 30.

Murray suffered a spinal injury after falling on his head while doing a gymnastic manoeuvre and has been on the ventilator at UHWI with no sign of movement in his lower body.

While hoping for a turnaround in the 19-year-old's condition, a distraught Peter Lue, chief instructor at Jamaica Taekwondo, said he was shocked when news initially broke that Murray, a 19-year-old tae kwon do star and former Calabar standout, was injured "during training".

"I want to make it clear that he was not doing tae kwon do," said Lue, a 37-year veteran and seventh-degree black belt.

"I actually didn't know that he had started doing cheerleading at school. I wasn't aware and, if I knew, I would have put a stop to it," said Lue, who is tae kwon do coach at UTech where the sport has a club and is also taught as a subject.

The tae kwon do instructor said had he been in the know, he would have advised Murray against cheerleading manoeuvres.

"I can't tell people what to do, but this is one of our top fighters. This was like when Yohan Blake said he wanted to play cricket and his coach spoke out," he said.

"This is not like tae kwon do that, even when you are jumping and kicking, your feet are always below you. We don't even know if he'll walk again," Lue added.

Lue, similar to other members of the local martial arts fraternity, has been guarded on releasing second-hand information on Murray's condition as only four family members have been allowed to visit him in hospital.

"I got to understand that initially he had no movement but he now has some movements of the hands and knows what's happening around him but he can't talk a lot because he is on the respiratory machine," he said.

Peter Lue - file