Umar Kremlev was one of five candidates on the ballot for the AIBA Presidency ©AIBA

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) will be out of debt in six months and will fulfil "all of its financial obligations", according to Umar Kremlev, its new President.

Questioned exclusively by insidethegames within days of his election on December 12, the 38-year-old Russian acknowledged that a key payment related to next year’s men’s World Championships in Belgrade had been delayed owing to COVID-19.

But, in a bullish assessment, he confirmed that AIBA expected to receive another approximately CHF4 million (£3.3 million/$4.4 million/€3.6 million) payment, relating to the Global Boxing Cup, by the end of this year.

"An agreement has been reached on the receipt of funds for the Global Boxing Cup 2021, so we see no cause for concern," he said.

It is planned that this "new format" competition will take place next year in 15 Russian cities over about two months.

On the fee for the World Championships, Kremlev said: "We took into account the arguments offered by our colleagues in Belgrade and decided to be flexible about this issue."

Belgrade is due to host the 2021 Men’s World Boxing Championships, if the health situation allows 

The AIBA President went on: "Due to the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, their payment has been delayed until the spring of 2021."

Newly-published accounts for the year to end-June 2020 put AIBA’s total assets at a little more than CHF2 million (£1.66 million/$2.2 million/€1.8 million) against total liabilities of not far short of CHF12 million (£10 million/$13.3 million/€10.9 million).

But Kremlev claims AIBA "will attract large international companies as partners".

"In six months, AIBA will not be in debt and will receive funds to help national federations to develop boxing on all continents," the new President said.

By David Owen 

The Trust Sports Emporium was the venue on Tuesday 15th December 2020 when Winbase Promotions completed the signing of two boxers namely lightweight Benjamin “Daddy Lumba” Lamptey and flyweight Mohammed “The Golden Boy” Aryeetey.

Lamptey, 32 has a record of 15 fights, 10 victories, 4 defeats and one draw. All his 4 defeats came in his last 4 bouts meaning that he is currently in poor form and it doesn’t seem like he would be a good investment but CEO of Winbase Promotions, Edwin Evans Jnr, believes the lightweight will come good.

“Daddy Lumba is a great boxer he’s had a lot of experience in the national amateur boxing team which is the Black Bombers and we’ve seen his performance against Sherrif Quaye [19-2, 12 KOs], even though the outcome was debatable, we were still very highly impressed with the show that he put forth.”

“We feel signing him would add onto our team, help project Winbase Promotions and also help take his career to the next level by giving him the push that we feel he needs to get a National title, an African title and ultimately a World title.”

Mohammed Aryeetey has also signed his first-ever professional contract with Winbase Promotions. The 17-year-old has been making waves on the Ghana amateur scene, even being adjudged the best boxer in the elite category of the second edition of the McDan Boxing Series back in 2019.

“Mohammed Aryeetey has been an outstanding amateur boxer over the past years, in fact, he has grown from a very skilful juvenile boxer up until the amateur stages. He is actually a member of the Black Bombers and he is one of the top contenders within that team.”

“With the wealth of talent he possesses and how he has distinguished himself among his peers, the team felt it was the right time for us to take up other challenges and this translates into us moving him into the professional space in anticipation that he would also give a good account of himself and dominate.” Edwin stated

Both boxers are confident after signing for Winbase Promotions with Lamptey revealing that he is confident of challenging for titles under the promotion’s banner “With my new manager, I know what he can do for me, so I’d like to thank him a lot for signing me and maybe from next year going they will see a different Daddy Lumba, they will hear Daddy Lumba’s name and maybe things will change.”

Mohammed Ayreetey aka Golden Boy said “I started boxing at a very early age and my focus is to win a world title. He thanked the CEO of Winbase Promotions for believing in him.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

 It was a delightful weekend at the Army Officer's Mess Tennis Court (AMTEC) as club members took their seats to watch regular ball boys showcase their skills at the maiden edition of the AMTEC Boys Tennis Tournament.

The weeklong tournament saw Godwin Darkwah beating Robert Doe-Adjani in the finals to be crowned champion of team A; whilst Desmond Gadzi  upset Herbert Doe-Adjani to win the Team B category. Each team played 6 round-robin matches.

Speaking afterwards, tournament sponsor, the Senior Vice President OLAM Ghana international who also doubles as the Head of Business Ghana Cocoa, Eric Asare Botwe said, "this been an interesting week, the court craft has been top notch. This is the best way we can give back to the ball boys for their services rendered to the club"

According to the Tournament director, Coach Doe Adjani, the ball boys tournament gives the boys an opportunity to compete against each other in an elite competition before the year ends to determine who is the best. He hopes the next edition will better than this. He also thanked Mr. Eric Asare for the Sponsorship.

President of Ghana Tennis Federation who also serves as the Treasurer of AMTEC  said, "the ball boys should be always be more serviceable to the club members to attract more sponsors in the next edition".

Godwin Darkwah the team A winner and Desmond Gadzi team B winner took home a giant trophy, cash prize and  product from OLAM Ghana limited.The rest of the participants were also given cash prizes and products from OLAM Ghana.

Some of the dignatories who grace the occasion were Chairman and vice of AMTEC Justice Anthony Oppong and Colonel Selorm Kwasi Amengor, Colonel Richard Akotoh, Lawyer Emmanuel Vincent , Joseph Ocansah Major Dr Eugene Mensah and Tricia Karikari

Story: Gabriel Amoakoh

 Management Committee Chairman of the Ghana U20 side, Dr. Randy Abbey has met the 2020 WAFU U20 winning team on Sunday following their return from Benin at their base at the M-Plaza Hotel.

Dr. Abbey, was supposed to have led the team to the tournament but delegated his Vice, Albert Commey to lead the team due to some pressing demands.

Following the wonderful feat of the team at the tournament, beating Burkina Faso 2-1 in the final to lift the trophy, Dr. Abbey met the team to congratulate them for their achievement.

He also used the opportunity to discuss the program of the team as they turn attention to the U20 AFCON slated for Mauritania next year.

“From the bottom of my heart, and from the Executive Committee of the Ghana Football Association, we are grateful and proud of you,” he said.

He also assured the team of all their entitlements as they prepare to break camp and regroup later in January.

The Black Satellites will break camp today from their base at the M-Plaza Hotel for two weeks and restart training for the U20 AFCON in 2021.

Ghana won the U20 WAFU Championship on Saturday after a sterling performance against Burkina Faso at the Charles de Gualle Stadium in Porto Norvo.

Despite a sluggish start to th competition, the Satellites meandered their way through and advanced to the finals to beat the Burkinabes.

FootballmadeinGhana

Ghana on Saturday, December, 19, 2020 won the 2020 WAFU Zone B Cup of Nations in Benin. The Black Satellites came from behind to beat Burkina Faso 2-1 at the Charles de Gaulle stadium in Porto-Novo, Benin.

The Young Stallions had the best attacking machinery in the competition scoring 8 goals in four games including a 4-1 win against Ivory Coast in the semi-finals.

They started the game strongly dictating play in the opening minutes of the encounter.

They were rewarded in the 16th minute when Kouame Jean Fiacre Botue broke the deadlock as he pounced on a error in the Ghana defence and hit the ball past Ibrahim Danlad.

With just about 5 minutes to end the first half, the Black Satellites got the equalizer through Daniel Afriyie Barnie who latched onto a Percious Boah free-kick in the 40th minute.

Burkina Faso nearly increased their lead before the break but the crossbar came to the rescue of the Black Satellites as Hamed Quattara cross graced the woodwork.

That was the last action in the first 45 minutes of the game as the teams headed to the locker room for a break. The first half ended with both sides levelled up.

Danger man Percious Boah once again scored from a free kick in the 79th minute from 35 yards to increase the lead for the Black Satellites.

The former Still Believe striker took his goal tally to two goals after netting against Nigeria in Ghana’s opening game.

The Burkinabe's complained to the referee the ball had not closed the line but the assistant line II had none of it, with the center referee Clement Franklin Kpan from Cote d'Ivoire pointing to the centre line for play to restart.

The Black Satellites held onto the lead to clinch their first WAFU title in this category.

Ghana and Burkina Faso have already booked a place in next year's Africa U-20 Cup of Nations to be staged in Mauritania after making it to the finals in this zone.

GFA COMMUNICATIONS

Decathlon Ghana, sponsors of the Ghana Women’s Football League has organized a special end of year get together for staff and a few customers in Accra.

“The happiness of my Teammates is of utmost importance to me” said Kwasi Tabury, the Country Manager.

They are the first beneficiaries of our Mission and Dream of 'Changing Lives through Sports', and as Ambassadors of this Mission, they in turn help our Users and Customers to benefit from it as well.

Last Saturday, 19th December during our 'End of Year Get Together', we celebrated our wonderful Teammates for an amazing year done, even with all the challenges we faced. It was a fun filled evening with so many activities and exchange of Gifts.

Kudos Team and Congratulations to you all. Your hard work, dedication and commitment to this Project has really paid off.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and A Prosperous New Year. – Kwasi Tabury posted on Facebook

By Elizabeth Alhassan / Sammy Heywood Okine

Johnson Smith has assumed the Head Coach role at Asante Kotoko after Maxwell Konadu parted ways with the club in the early hours of Friday, December 18, 2020.

The departure of Coach Konadu follows a 1-0 defeat against Great Olympics in an outstanding match-day three encounter played at the Accra Sports Stadium on Thursday.

The club announced this decision on their twitter page, which said ” Kotoko Sporting Club wishes to inform the general public that it has decided to part ways with Coach Maxwell Konadu with immediate effect.

“Coach Johnson Smith has been appointed to lead the team in the interim,” ,” the statement said

Smith won his first match in charge of Kotoko against Dreams on Sunday. He must prove himself in the CAF Champions League clash against Al-Hilal next week.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Felix Hammond stunned Ghana Tennis Federation (GTF) and Tennis Professional of Ghana (TPG) No.1 Johnson Acquah to win his second National Ranking for the year.

 Felix played magnificently in a 4-6,7-6(4),6-1 victory at National Tennis Center, Accra.

Johnson had been a strong favourite to finally get his hands on the ultimate after getting to nine finals this year and beating Reginald Okantey in the semifinals, but he was outplayed by Felix Hammond. 

"It was an incredible atmosphere on court, I felt emotion like I never have before," Hammond said.

At 4-4 in the first set, Johnson hit a barrage of winners that left Hammond looking lost for a response which resulted in Johnson winning the set 6-4.

Having lost the first set, Hammond bounced back to win the second 7-6(4)

In the final set; a volley, a backhand and a serve got him out of trouble and he rode the wave of four successive points into the next game after deploying two screaming backhand passes to lead 4-1. He then steered another of those trademark backhands down the line and raised his arms in triumph.

Hammond walks away with a thousand Ghana cedis and a giant trophy while Johnson also takes home five hundred Ghana cedis.

The weeklong events was orgasnized by GTF with  support from International Tennis Federation (ITF), Tennis Foundation Ghana (TFG) and Universal Tennis Rating (UTR).

Story: Gabriel Amoakoh

The Vice-Chairman of the Ghana U-20 Management Committee, Albert Commey has congratulated the Black Satellites for winning the WAFU Zone B U-20 Cup of Nations tournament.

The Black Satellites faced well groomed opponents from Niger, Cote d Ivoire and Bukina Faso and proved to be the best in the sub region.

Albert Commey has encouraged them to stay focused and fight for victories in coming tournaments.

“We play the game in our minds, concentration and focus on winning before we enter the battle ground, so we are sure of success ” the Vice-Chairman of the Ghana U-20 Management Committee said.

He expressed that the team is a bunch of skillful and talented young footballers with big dreams to become super stars.

Most expects of the game believe a very prepared Black Satellites can become a formidable Black Stars in future.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Mr. George Lamptey, President of the Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF) says his outfit deserves to be awarded because despite the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic which halted many sporting activities, they were able to qualify two boxers to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

He said though they went through many difficulties and challenges, they went to Dakar, Senegal where they did very well as most of the Black Bombers reached the quarter finals.

He expressed that the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) which has taken up the responsibility of rewarding outstanding sports personalities and institutions must consider to motivate the Black Bombers, especially 19 year old sensation, Samuel Takyi (Amateur Boxer of the Year) who beat the African champion and skipper, Suleiman Tetteh who also deserves a special award for qualifying to another Olympic Tournament after London 2012.

He said Coach Ofori Asare also deserves special mention as he and his able assistants, Vincent Akai Nettey and Lartekwei Lartey did extremely well in the year under review.

"There were female boxers who represented Ghana for the first time in Olympic qualifiers" he said.

George Lamptey commended the few sports journalists who devote some time and space to promote boxing.

He also thanked the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), Geodrill, Azumah Nelson, Alhaji Inusah and the people and companies who supported amateur boxing in 2020.

He was however sad that some lives like ex President Rawlings, Col. J. E. Sharp, former world champion Alfred Kotey, rising star boxer John Commey, who is a member of the Bombers were lost in the year.

By Sammy Heywood Okine