Paramount chief of the Efutu Traditional Council, Neenyi Ghartey VII has expressed his joy to add more sporting disciplines to the annual Aboakyer Festival in Winneba.

Speaking at the launch of the 2023 Aboakyer Cycling Race at the media centre of the Accra Sports Stadium, he said the Festival has been celebrated with sporting events like Marathon and Tennis, and now they will have Cycling on April 29, 2023.

According to him, the Aboakyer itself is a festival full of energy as people are seen running and jumping all over, and he is happy that Cycling will stay as one of the sports to highlight the festival.

He gave a brief history of the Aboakyer Festival and how the Asafo Companies were formed, as well as the reason to go into the bush to catch a live antelope for sacrifice to the deity.

He was optimistic that the youth of Winneba will get interest in Cycling just as they have in other sports.

He hoped and appealed for an accident free, fair and great event with the best cyclist winning.

“We are happy to be a partner of the Aboakyer Cycling Race together with the Winneba Sports College and the National Sports Authority to demonstrate sportsmanship and fairplay” he stressed.

He urged all cyclists to prepare and compete fairly for the attractive prizes at stake.

Mr. Shaaban Mohammed, General Secretary of the Ghana Cycling Federation (GCF) said over the years, he had wished to have a race in Winneba and was happy it has come when he was in office as the Secretary.

He presented a roadmap of the 90 kilometers race, and hinted that three jerseys will be out for grabs by the best cyclists as well as fantastic prizes for the winners.

He also appealed corporate bodies to come on board to be part of the Festival as it is going to be very interesting, and also part of Ghana’s preparations towards the World Cycling Championship in Glasgow, Scotland which he has invited the Paramount Chief of the Efutu Traditional Council to go and portray the rich culture of Ghana.

Professor Peter Twumasi, Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA) who was Special Guest at the launch said he was honoured to have Neenyi Ghartey VII at the programme, and believes one day hunting sports will add to the sporting disciplines in Ghana because Aboakyer has survived for a long time and it involves skill, strength and consciousness to win.

Nana Adu Mankatta, President of Sports For All Association was present at the launch and promised to support to make the Aboakyer Festival Cycling Race successful.

Some chiefs of the Efutu Traditional Area were there as well as officials of the University of Education at Winneba who came to back Neenyi Ghartey VII.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

The Ghana Cycling Federation (GCF) has held a media encounter to educate sports journalists on events to be competed at the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in August.

The encounter attracted over 30 pressmen and Mr. Ken Kalai, the team manager / chairman of Ghana Para Cyclying urged them to specialize in the various categories in order to report accurately, not to be disturbed by other events.

He said all the world championship events are ridden by national teams, not trade teams such as in most other major races, and the winner of each category is entitled to wear the rainbow jersey in races of that category (either mass start or time trial) until the next championships. It currently includes the following championships: Elite Men's road race, Elite Men's time trial, Under-23 Men's road race, Under-23 Men's time trial, Junior Men's road race, Junior Men's time trial, Elite Women's road race, Elite Women's time trial, Junior Women's road race, Junior Women's time trial.

The first world championships took place in 1921, though the only event that was contested was the men's road race for amateurs.

The first professional world championship took place in July 1927 at the Nürburgring in Germany where Italian Alfredo Binda won the professional men's race and Belgian Jean Aerts won the men's amateur race.

The biggest cycling event in the world, ever! Comes off between 3 - 13 August 2023, and the world's best riders will compete across 13 UCI World Championships.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

The Ghana Armed Forces are leaders of the Ghana Professional Boxing League Table after the third fight night at the Bukom Boxing Arena with nine points.

Ghana Prisons are also occupying the second spot with the same nine points, while Akotoku Academy is third with six points.

Attoh Quarshie, Bronx, Panix and Wisdom have six points, and  Black Panthers, Bridge, Charles Quartey, Sea View / Will Power and Seconds Out have three points.

Fit Square and Palm Spring / The Gym have no point as they are yet to win a bout.

The Ghana Professional Boxing League which is staged by Imax Promotions with support from the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) is very exciting and the Bukom Boxing Arena is the place to be on any Fight Night.

The entertainment is super as top class musicians always feature.

The next fight night on April, 22, 2023 is going to be exciting as the soldiers would not like to leave the leadership grip.

Fit Square and Palm Spring / The Gym are also coming with high spirits to win their first bouts.

The coaches are also planning strategies to win and Season Two is really going to be tough and interesting.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Seaneke Abraham produced a leap of 7.89m to win men's Long Jump at the Jo Meaker Classic and Multi. With this jump Abraham holds the Meet and facility record.

Solomon Hammond run 10.31 to finish second in M100m at the South Florida Invitational, while Bossman Pinkrah run 48.79 in the Men's 400m to finish 4th at the David Noble Relays.

According to Coach Elorm, hard working James Dadzie keep on pushing with a time of 10.29 sec with -1.2 wind to win the men’s 100m at David Noble Relays.

Martin Owusu-Antwi run at South Florida invitational 20.99 with  (+4.5W) to finish 5th in the Men's 200m.

Olympian Joseph Paul Amoah opened his outdoor season with 20.43s in 200m in Florida, and Saminu Abdul Rasheed did a PB of 10.04s (-0.3m/s) in 100m in the Hurricane Alumni Invitational.

Compiled by Sammy Heywood Okine

Black Stars legend, Stephen Appiah has expressed his readiness to play a leading role to make football in Ghana better.

Speaking in an interview with Sompa FM in Kumasi, the former Juventus star said football should be run by footballers.

According to him, the success of the sport in a country has nothing to do with big grammar.

“Sometimes the legends, the former players don’t get the chance. I have observed that football is run by footballers. It is not about the grammar that you will use. I hope that one of us will one day have the chance to come and lead Ghana football.

“Some of us are very humble…We all want to help,” Stephen Appiah said.

In the past, many Ghanaians have called for Stephen Appiah to contest for the Presidency of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

He has in recent times served on the technical team of the Black Stars and was also a member of the management committee of the national team.

Source footballghana

Executive Council Member and Black Meteors Management Committee Chairman Frederick Acheampong has been appointed as the new chair of the Division One League Super Cup Organizing Committee as he takes over from Vice President Mark Addo who has been the Chairman of the Committee for the past two years

The former AshantiGold SC Chief Executive Officer, also Treasurer of the GOC will be assisted by fellow Executive Council Member Samuel Anim Addo as Vice Chairman.

Other members of the committee include Devine Kyei – President of Division One League side Nations FC, Eugene Nobel – a member of the Division One League Board and Fred Tindan – the Greater Accra representative of Bibiani Gold Stars FC.

The Division One League Super Cup is an 8-club off-season competition for winners of each zone, second-placed teams in each zone and two of the third-best-placed teams at the end of the season.

The competition was introduced to give clubs more games outside the League by adding to the limited number of games that are played in the course of the season.

The Executive Council introduced the competition following a meeting on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.

Skyy FC won the maiden edition in 2021/22 before Liberty Professionals beat Nsoatreman FC to win the second edition at Kyebi.

Story By Football Ghana

Stephen Appiah has revealed that he made high sacrifices by paying winning bonuses and paying for flight tickets to receive the interest of players of playing for the Black Stars in the past.

The former captain of the senior national team made this revelation during an interview with Kumasi-based Sompa FM.

According to the former Juventus midfielder, at some point, he had to pay for the players' plane tickets because they found the Black Stars unexciting.

He added that he was eager to assist the Black Stars in regaining their competitive status but has been hesitant due to unknown reasons, stated that he once paid winning bonuses to players after games.

"One thing that is painful is that some of us we are very humble. But when you know your value, you don't want to do certain things or mingle with certain people. We all want to help because we have helped before even if it wasn't enough," he said

"There was a time everybody(players) had no interest in playing for Black Stars. There was a time I had to pay for players' plane tickets to Ghana and there was a time I paid winning bonuses," he added.

The 42-year-old, who is not impressed with how the team is run currently, implied that he regrets spending his money on the team, but hopes things will get better.

"So today if I see how things are been done, I ask myself why did I waste my money? But we hope that one day it will be well."

Stephen Appiah led Ghana to their first World Cup in 2006. The Black Stars finished the tournament as the only African country to advance from their group.

Appiah returned to the team for the 2010 World Cup and helped them make history by reaching the quarter-finals, becoming the third African team to do so.

The Black Stars have failed to advance from the group stage in both of their last two World Cup appearances, and their best finish in the last two AFCON tournaments was a round-16 finish in 2019.

Source FootballGhana

Frederick Acheampong from Ghana has been handed the role of General Coordinator by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the TotalEnergies Confederation Cup game between Rivers United FC (Nigeria) and Young Africans (Tanzania).

The GFA Executive Council Member who is Treasuer of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC)  has been mandated to ensure the smooth organization and success of the match in Nigeria. His tasks also include team arrangements, stadium and training field preparation, match day operations, media and spectator services and security.

The match is scheduled for Uyo-Godswill Akpabio Stadium on Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 14H00

Other officials for the game include:

Abongile Tom - Referee - South Africa

Ivanildo Meirelles de Oliveira Sanches Meirelles De Sanche Lopes -Assistant Referee II- Angola

Abelmiro Dos Reis Monte Negro - Assistant Referee II- Sao Tome E.Principe

Djindo Louis Houngnandende - Fourth Official - Benin

Awuye Yusuf Suleiman – Match Commissioner - Uganda

Brou Kouadio Parfait - Referee Assessor - Côte d’Ivoire

Humphrey Watenga Mandu - Security Officer - Uganda

Hamza El Fariq - Video Assistant Referee - Morocco

Adil Zourak - Assistant VAR - Morocco

GFA COMMUNICATIONS

… Ghana has been ranked among the least fit countries in the world

The eleventh most populous country in the world is ranked the fittest in the world

Japan has been ranked as the fittest nation in the world as the East Asian nation scores the highest marks among 206 countries in the latest index released by the World Sport Ranking.

The eleventh most populous country in the world scored 97.09 points, beating neighbours China who are on 95.88 points.

The report has been published by the World Sport Ranking which is a sports policy evaluation platform developed by Nadim Nassif, Associate Professor in Physical Education and Sports from Notre Dame University – Louaize (NDU), in collaboration with IN & Sport, an international sport consultancy firm.

No African country found its way into the top 50 fittest countries in the world with South Africa placing 51st with 83.53 points.

Egypt, 81.67, are 62nd and 2nd on the African continent.

Interestingly, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Kenya, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria, Seychelles, Namibia, Algeria, Uganda, Burundi, The Gambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Malawi, Ivory Coast, Benin Eswatini, Zambia, and Botswana are all ranked ahead of Ghana who are 137 on the ladder with 70.26 points.

The ranking raises key questions about the healthy conditions of Ghana while underlying the need to invest into sports in the country.

Ghanasportsonline.com

… boxing and armwrestling in good positions among 31 sporting disciplines in Ghana, as football falls behind with badminton, others not ranked

The report has been published by the World Sport Ranking which is a sports policy evaluation platform developed by Nadim Nassif, Associate Professor in Physical Education and Sports from Notre Dame University - Louaize (NDU), in collaboration with IN & Sport, an international sport consultancy firm.

31 sporting disciplines in Ghana: Teqball boosts best ranking, boxing and armwrestling in pole positions as football falls behind plus badminton, bodybuilding not ranked and more

Teqball has emerged as the best performing Ghanaian sporting discipline on the global sport ranking index released by the World Sport Ranking.

Teqball, which is a ball sport that is played on a curved table, combining elements of sepak takraw and table tennis, is the highest ranked sporting discipline in the country – beating football, athletics, cricket, tennis, and table tennis.

Boxing is the next best ranked sporting discipline, placing 26th on the 156-country ranking table – scoring three stars as against leaders United State of America who have 10 stars and ranking ahead of Mexico and the Great Britain.

Surprisingly, Armwrestling have the next highest ranking by placing 29th globally out of 50 countries, beating the Great Britain, Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany on the ladder. On the continent, Ghana armwrestling is ranked second with Egypt leading the pack.

Since 2014, the multi-criteria database of the World Sport Ranking makes it possible to compare elite and mass sports performances between all the countries having National Olympic Committees.

The report has been published by the World Sport Ranking which is a sports policy evaluation platform developed by Nadim Nassif, Associate Professor in Physical Education and Sports from Notre Dame University – Louaize (NDU), in collaboration with IN & Sport, an international sport consultancy firm.

Interestingly, Ghana are not ranked in badminton, bodybuilding, handball, Jujitsu, Polo, Sailing, Squash, and Tug of War.

Ranking of the 31 sporting disciplines in Ghana and their positions on the global ranking.

Teqball – 17th (76)

Boxing – 26 (156)

Armwrestling – 29 (50)

Weightlifting – 50 (95)

Fencing – 56 (108)

Cricket – 66 (86)

Football – 69 (199)

Wrestling – 72 (76)

Powerlifting – 79 (84)

Para sports – 79 (160)

Athletics – 81 (195)

Rugby Union – 86 (106)

TAEKWONDO – 94 (180)

Tennis – 99 (137)

Swimming 106 (191)

Table Tennis – 108 (147)

Judo – 121 (136)

Chess – 132 (153)

BRAZILIAN JUJITSU – 28 (33)

RUGBY LEAGUE – 32 (43)

Karate – 132 (152)

Basketball 169 (188)

Volleyball – 195 (206)

Badminton – not ranked

Bodybuilding – not ranked

Handball – not ranked

JUJITSU – not ranked

Polo – not ranked

Sailing – not ranked

Squash – not ranked

Tug of War – not ranked

Source Ghanasportsonline.com