Ghana, African Paralympic Committee and Samson Deen Set The Pace

… First 2023 African Para Games Ends Successful

The first African Para Games came to an end on Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at the McDan Park, La in Accra where Dr. Bello Bitugu, a member of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) commended and congratulated all who took part including athletes, officials, media, drivers, cooks, volunteers and others at the closing ceremony.

He said one again Ghana has set the pace, and thanked the African Paralympic Committee (APC), President Samson Deen for his courage and charisma in ensuring the the event was held.

According to Dr. Bitugu who is Director of Sports at the University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana has made the record and proved that disabled people can do many things that able people can not do.

Mr. Samson Deen thanked members of the LOC, the Ministry of Youth & Sports and the President of Ghana HE Nana Akuffo-Addo for his support.

Hon. Evans Opoku Bobie, the Deputy Minister who closed the Games also commended the athletes and spectators who watched the Games to encourage the performers to give off their best.

15 countries were able to attend the Games from north, south, east and west of the continent to compete in Amputee Football, Wheelchair Tennis and Wheelchair Basketball.

The organisations were smoothly with no major problems, though it was the first edition of the African Para Games.

A Minute's silence observed for Morocco earthquake victims before the Amputee football finals.

Ghana beat Morocco to clinch gold in Amputee Football. Ghana’s intelligent and skillful, Mohammed Mubarak was adjudged Best Player while his team mate Razak Seidu won the Best Goal Keeper and Coach Stephen Obeng got the Best Coach Award.

Najwa Awane won the African Para Games Women’s wheelchair tennis title in Accra, one day after her homeland Morocco was hit by a huge earthquake.

South Africa’s Alwande Sikhosana claimed the Men's singles title and earned a direct qualification spot in the 2024 Paris Paralympics. He also claimed the Doubles title alongside Leon Els.

In the Women’s Wheelchair Basket ball, Algeria beat South Africa to win the gold, while the Algeria Men lost to Morocco in the finals.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

… USA based Ornella also beaten by 38year old Kenyan

Ghana’s Heavyweight boxer, Jonathan Tetteh scored a knockdown with a vicious hook in round 2 but poor judging and a late late controversial point's deduction cost the Ghanaian as he suffers a 2-3 split decision defeat to the Algerian and is also out of the ongoing Africa Olympic boxing qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal.

However he feels he won, and appeales for the next opportunity to qualify.

Tetteh is one of Ghana’s medal hopefuls in this year’s Olympic Games Qualifiers.

Ornella Sathoud was also beaten at the Quarter Final stage, in fact her first bout by Kenya's 2012 Olympian,

The 38 year old Elizabeth Adhiambo Andiego won by a massive a 5-0 unanimous decision at the Africa boxing Olympic qualifiers ongoing in Dakar, Senegal

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Dayekh Mohamad Mahmoud appointed Vice President of WKA Martial Arts Organisation in Ghana

World Kyokushinkai Association (WKA) Martial Arts Organisation branch in Ghana has appointed Dayekh Mohamad Mahmoud as the new Vice President to help in developing and promoting kickboxing as a sporting discipline in Ghana and Africa.

Mr. Dayekh Mohamad Mahmoud who is a Lebanese based in Ghana will bring on board a lot on international experience and help in reaching out to many people to love and know much about the sport.

Ahamed Ibrahim, President and Ghana Representative said the welcomes Dayekh Mohamad Mahmoud and gives him full blessing and support to operate and make kickboxing very popular in unknown places in Ghana and other countries.

He noted that they have a lot of events and programmes coming up and the new Vice President who is an influential businessman as well as fighter will certainly back them.

He thanked all those who voted for him during the Ghana Mixed Martial Arts elections and urged the youth to take sports serious as they can achieve a lot in sports like MMA, Boxing and Kickboxing.

World Kyokushinkai Association (WKA) Martial Arts Organisation has its headquarters in Brazil, and they are also into creating peace and unity among the two nations, and the world at large through sports.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

The flagship event of the Ghana Cycling Federation (GCF) starts from today, September 13 at Olebu in the Greater Accra Region.

The 349.1km race is expected to attract over 150 cyclists from all over the country.

According to the Secretary General of the GCF, Mr. Shabaan Mohammed, they expect an interesting and very competitive five days event.

He noted that anyone can win because all the cyclists are performing well in recent times.

He said the recent PruRide was an example as the winner was not a surprise because anyone who has trained and prepared well can win.

He commended the Cycling Clubs who have always contributed to the standing and success of the Federation.

Mr. Shabaan thanked the sports media for promoting Cycling as one of the top five Federations.

He specially mentioned the following companies who have supported the Federation.

The National Tour Du Ghana is sponsored by DerbyWheel - The globalised model of the International Pro Keirin cycling races business base in Korea, S. Sports, Promasidor Gh Ltd (Cowbell), Riyahd Construction, IIQRA Ltd, Carbon AV, Divine Group International Clinic and Spatarial Construction.

The 2023 Tour Du Ghana is fully supported by the Africa Games 2023 LOC, Ghana Olympic Committee, National Sports Authority, Ministry of youth and sports, Lite Blue Events, Prime Dan Hand and Lizz World Consult.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Skipper of the national Boxing team, the Black Bombers, Abdul Wahid Omar says they are focused on achieving their dreams of Olympic Games Qualification in Dakar and not on monies to be paid them by government.

He said they have already been assured by the Minister of Youth & Sports, Hon. Mustapha Ussif to go to Dakar and come for their Per Diems and allowances.

He said the tournament has been very tough and he is very sad for losing, however there are other Ghanaians who are still in contention to qualify and they must be encouraged.

"We know when we come home our allowances will be sorted so we are focused and concentrated" he said.

Heavyweight, Jonathan Tetteh who won his bout to enter the Quarter finals said he just wants to qualify and take part in the Olympic Games which will come with many rewards, so for now his attention is on qualifying to Paris 2024.

Commonwealth Silver medalist. Joseph Commey said they are cool, calm and collected, just ready to make history again.

Theophilus Allotey who has won two fights expressed that he wants to achieve greater things, so his mind is one winning the rest of the bouts.

They were reacting to rumours in some media circles in Ghana that the Black Bombers want to boycott the Olympic Qualifier until they get their Per Diems.

Coach Dr. Ofori Asare noted that they are not aware, because there is peace and unity in their camp

"You see such rumours can affect the boxers" performance, but I will psych them for the battles ahead. I already said we can qualify one or two boxers and look at the other World Qualifiers in Italy and Thailand" he expressed.

Vice President, Dauda Fuseni, Vice President of the GBF told Yours Truly, he believes Coach Asare can control the boxers, because he knows how to handle them.

Ghana has four boxers in the competition who will fight on Wednesday. They are USA based Ornella Sathoud, Theo Allotey, Joshua Commey and Jonathan Tetteh aka 'Worldwide'.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

In their efforts to make all officials and stakeholders abreast with modern scoring system of Mixed Martial Arts, the GHAMMAF is planning to organize internal courses for Referees, Judges, Coaches and other Ring officials.

According to the President of the Federation, Mr. Collins Kofi Zoiku, they need to tackle some very important issues before organizing e a national MMA Championship and other events.

He said there is even a strategic plan to recruit athletes into the Federation.

He promised to meet the Board Chairman- Professor Kester Quist-Aphetsi and Mrs. Deladem Ephraim-Etsey to fix some issues.

He also called for frequent meetings and effective communication among the executive.

He also spoke about positive media relations to get their activities known and patronized.

Mr. Collins Kofi Zoiku congratulated Technical Director, Mr. Akpabli Emmanuel, who is also Welfare Officer of the national Amputee Football team, the Black Challenge for winning the First Ever Amputee Football African Cup for Ghana.

"We hope you'll do the same for Ghana MMA too" he added.

Mr. Zoiku was also involved in the organization of the first African Para Games which has been described as very successful.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

There is good news for Ghana’s Seth Gyamfi aha Freezy Macbones who is dreaming to represent his country at the Olympic Games.

After trying in the African Qualifier in Dakar, Senegal where he was beaten, he has another opportunity as between 45 and 51 athletes (20-23 women and 25-28 men) will qualify through the 2nd World Qualification Tournament, which is scheduled for the Thai capital Bangkok from 23 May to 3 June 2024.

Italy will host another World Qualifier.

Freezy Macbones has already said his mind on the defeat and says he still wants to represent Ghana at the Olympic Games if there is another chance.

He has lost as an amateur before so he knows how to feel as a loser, but won all his two professional bouts.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Former Olympic bronze medalist Samuel Takyi has declared his disinterest in pursuing his Olympic dream, signalling a shift from his earlier aspirations to secure Ghana's first-ever Olympic gold medal despite transitioning to the professional ranks last year.

Frustrated by his inability to secure a place on the national amateur boxing team for the ongoing African Olympic qualifiers in Dakar, the 22-year-old boxer vented his disappointment to the Graphic Sports, stating unequivocally that he was no longer interested in pursuing Olympic glory in Paris. Instead, he now wishes to channel his energy towards his burgeoning professional career.

The Ghanaian boxing sensation who claimed a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics had ardently expressed his desire to represent Ghana once more, this time at the 2024 Olympics in Paris in a bid to secure Ghana's first-ever Olympic gold medal despite transitioning to the professional boxing circuit just last year.

However, the President of the Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF), Bernard Quartey, extended a glimmer of hope to the youngster to still pursue his Olympic dream via two alternative qualification pathways available next year for members of the Black Bombers who fail to secure Olympic slots during the September 9 --15 qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal.

Mr Quartey gave an assurance that the Olympian would be invited to rejoin the national team to enable him to compete at subsequent qualification events in Italy next February and Bangkok in May.

The GBF boss explained that Takyi voluntarily excluded himself from the Black Bombers team following his refusal to avail himself for training and justifiers for selection into the team.

"Takyi will not be featuring at the Senegal competition because he was not part of the team that trained towards the competition, but I will invite him to start training for the next two qualifiers next year," he told the Graphic Sports.

Nevertheless, the 22-year-old boxer remains resolute in his decision to shift focus to his professional career, having fought thrice since his Olympic glory two years ago.

"I am a professional boxer; I am not an amateur so I can't talk about amateur fighters. I don't know what's going on there and can't talk about Paris because I'm a professional boxer," Takyi told the Graphic Sports.

Takyi also dismissed allegations of a financial dispute with the Ministry of Youth and Sports over promised funds for career development, which President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo pledged following his Olympic bronze medal win in Tokyo.

Sorce Graphic Sports

Four Ghanaians are still in contention at the Africa Olympic qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal for quarter final action on  Wednesday.

Black Hitter Ornella Sathoud, the only lady standing takes on Elizabeth Adhiambo Andiego of Kenya in women's middleweight.

Black Bomber Jonathan Tetteh meets Mohammed Houmri of Algeria in heavyweight clash in the afternoon session beginning at 12:00 hrs.

2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, Joseph Commey faces Bekka Jugurtha AIT of Algeria in light welterweight (men) while Theophilus Kpakpo Allotey battles Fathia Shafik Mawanda of Uganda in flywieght in the evening session.

Friends of Boxing (FOB) wish Team Ghana all the best.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Mr. Francis Adjetey Sowah, former President ,Amputee Football Federation of Africa and Ghana Amputee Football Federation has sent a congratulatory message to the Black Challenge for winning the Amputee Football at the first African Para Games held in Accra.

He said "It is with great joy that i send this message of congratulations to the black challenge, Ghana's national amputee football team in recognition of their triumph in the recently held Africa Paralympic eight-nation tournament."

"Having been a pioneer in the development of amputee football in Ghana, i deem it relevant and pertinent that the team be lauded for continuing in the tradition of success set by previous generations of black challenge players."

"It is my sincere hope that the team shall go on to successfully qualify for the world cup at the upcoming cup of African Nations For Amputee Football (Canaf), Slated For April, 2024 In Cairo, Egypt."

"It is my hope and prayer that all stakeholders in amputee football in Ghana would draw energy from this achievement by the black challenge to resolve their pertinent issues and genuinely work together in sincere spirit to the betterment of Ghana amputee football."

"May the almighty God bless the black challenge!!

May he bless the amputee football fraternity in Ghana!

And may god bless us all" By Francis Adjetey Sowah

Source Philip Otuo