Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah, President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) has advised featherweight boxer, Samuel Takyi to be focused on his mission to win an Olympic Gold medal for Ghana.

At a special meeting with the budding boxer to celebrate his 20^th birthday, the President showered him with some gifts for the yuletide and urged him to train harder than ever so that he can make himself, his family and the nation proud.

Samuel Takyi aka ‘Ring Warrior’ defeated the African number one Morocco and two from Uganda at the Olympic Qualifier in Dakar, Senegal which was his first trip outside Ghana and he exceled.

Though he was unknown and not rated, he surprised all with his marvelous talent and won the bronze to qualify to Tokyo after losing to the African number 4 from Zambia, in the semi finals.

He expressed that he has learnt a lot in the international amateur system, and hopes to beat every opposition to grab the ultimate in his next tournament.

“I am maturing and learning a lot from my coaches and people who advise me like the GOC President. I am very happy on my birthday, and glad to celebrate with him. I am going for the ultimate in Tokyo, which is the gold” he said.

Mt. Ben Nunoo Mensah hinted that preparation is key and important in addition to the zeal to win. He promised that efforts are being made for the Black Bombers to train in Cuba before the 2020 Olympic Games.

He tipped the boxers and weight lifters as medal prospects for Ghana.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Members of the Ghana Olympic Committee,

Representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Authority,

National Federation Heads and Representatives,

Members of the media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you all very much for making the time to come meet again to discuss our passion, “sports” and the best way to move it to the next level.

We had initially planned to have this session in April or May of 2020 but as you all know the Covid pandemic and its resultant lock down and restrictions did not make it possible for us to do so, even holding it now has its challenges, a few of our members have expressed their misgiving about an in-person meeting, but our democratic system allows the majority to carry the day. I will however appeal to all of you to keep your mask on and observe the necessary Covid protocols.

ADMINISTRATION

The various communication channels and administrative structures created in the first year of our administration has enhanced administrative efficiency at the GOC.  Also the quest to ensure that an elective change at the GOC/CGA is no longer seen as a coup d’état (as it has been in the past) has encouraged the staff of the GOC/CGA to become less partisan and more professional in their work. 

I will still encourage them to continue to give their loyalty to the GOC/CGA as an institution, irrespective of who the elected officers or board members are at a given time, and not to be partisan in our elections.

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC)

The GOC continues to enjoy an extremely good relationship with the IOC, whose support to our National Federations (NFs), athletes and coaches through the Olympic Solidarity programme has been tremendous.

We will continue to build on that relationship to maximise their overall support to the development of sports in Ghana.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES FEDERATION (CGF)

The CGF has been very supportive of the CGA during the year under review, the employment of an intern for the CGA to help with marketing and various training programmes for our NFs and media attaché, has helped to create the necessary mileage and exposure for some of our NFs.

The recent workshop on the use of Social Media as a Branding Tool for our NFs was powered by the CGF.

ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES IN AFRICA (ANOCA)

ANOCA’s huge financial supports to us and our various NFs have more often than not been the last hope for most federations to be able to go to their International championships and qualifiers.

ANOCA’s recent grant of about $90,000.00 enabled our NFs and teams like Meteors (football), Rugby, Fencing, Weightlifting, Taekwondo, Boxing, Athletics, Swimming, Table Tennis, Badminton and many others to show up at their various Olympic qualifying events.

TOKYO 2020

The Corona pandemic did not make it possible to host the games in July, 2020 as originally proposed, the games will now be held from 23rd July, 2021 to the 8th August, 2021. The GOC together with the Ghana Embassy in Japan has secured a Pre-Games camping base for Team Ghana in the city of Inawashiro in Japan.

We have so far qualified 4 athletes, 2 from Boxing and 2 from Athletics. In addition to more athletes qualifying from these two disciplines, we are also hoping to secure qualification slots from Weightlifting, Swimming, Volley, Badminton and Judo.

It is the hope of the GOC that we should be able to raise enough funding from our sponsors and partners to ensure a hitch-free preparation for and participation at the games. Our current projected budget of about $360,000.00 dollars is far from being achieved and I will like to take the opportunity to appeal to corporate institutions like GCB, NLA, BOST, Ghana Gas, GNPC, Twellium Industries, Toyota, Ashfoam, JAYKAY Industries, Samsung and many others who have the development of the Ghanaian youth at heart, to come on board and support our various sporting disciplines and events like the Tokyo 2020.

One of the greatest black athletes of all times, Asafa Powel from Jamaica has agreed to visit Ghana in the middle of February, 2021 to help the GOC create the necessary awareness and hype on the games and ginger support for Team Ghana. Asafa is related to me and Ghana by marriage and will also take the opportunity to touch base with the motherland.

CAPACITY BUILDING

The GOC/CGA has embarked on an aggressive capacity building agenda for our coaches, administrators, media attaché and NF members. Unfortunately, our various technical courses for 2020 had to be rescheduled to 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.

In the spirit of building capacity for various persons involve in sports development, my administration adopted a strategy to ensure that as many Federation executives, administrators and media persons are selected as officers for different International games and championships, that is why for Bahamas 2017 we had Messrs Mawuko Afadzinu (Tennis), Theo Edzie (Swimming) and Benedict Owusu (Joy fm) as the selected officials. For the Winter Olympic Games in Korea in 2018 we had Hon. Jerry Shaib (Special Olympics) as CDM and George Addo (Scrabbles) to assist.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games in Goldcoast had Messrs Mohammed Sohnoon as CDM, with other assisting officers as Messrs Cilian Welsh (Shooting), Melvin Brown (Karate Do), Nana Mankata (Sports for all), Dennis Moore(Cycling) and Ken Adade as the media person.

The 2018 African Youth Games in Algeria had Mr. Albert Frimpong (Baseball) as CDM, Mr. Fred Otu (Taekwondo) as leader of delegation, with Nana Mankata as Team Manager and Mr. Isaac Worlanyo (Rainbow fm) as media attaché.

For the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Messrs Evan Yeboah (Badminton), Isaac Duah (Tennis) and Nana Mankata (Sports for all) were the officers with Mrs. Baaba Tandoh (Multi Media Group) as the media attaché.

The 2019 African Beach Games in Cape Verde had Messrs Steve Asante Bekoe (Rowing), Yaw Ampofo Ankrah (Beach Soccer) as the selected officers and Mr. Michael Okuley (GTV) as the accompanying media person.

Rev. Richmond Quarcoe (Squash), Emmanuel Tuffuor, Melom Brown (Karate Do) and Nana Mankata (Sports for all) were the CDM, DCDM, Head of security and TM respectively at the 2019 African Games in Morocco whilst Mr. Gabriel Obu (Zylofone fm) was the accompanying media attaché.

Tokyo 2020 will have Messrs Mike Aggrey(Golf), Mohammed Mahadi(Fencing), Jones Nfodzo and Melvin Brown(Karate Do) as officers with Messrs Sammy Heywood Okine, Theo Sampah (GTV), Romeo Oduro (Peace) and Maurice Quansah (Graphic) as media persons.

This is also my personal way of ensuring that the few opportunities that exist at the GOC/CGA are shared (without any discrimination) by as many people as possible and not just a few.

We intend to build capacity for as many members as possible, so these persons can impact knowledge and help with any future games organisation in the country.

SUPPORT FOR NATIONAL FEDERATIONS (NFs)

One of the key focus of my administration is, giving financial assistance to the various NFs. In 2019/2020 the GOC gave to the various NFs a total of $126,716.00 to help with their qualifiers and or as Development Grants.

The breakdown is as follows;

• Ghana Football Association -        $  8,000.00
• Ghana Fencing Association -        $  5,943.00
• Ghana Badminton Association - $  7,540.00
• Ghana Shooting -        $  3,000.00
• Ghana Rugby -        $  8,000.00
• Ghana Taekwondo -        $31,443.00
• Ghana Cycling -        $  5,930.00
• Ghana Karate Do -        $  4,930.00
• Ghana Weightlifting -        $  8,000.00
• Amateur Boxing -        $14,800.00
• Women Commission -        $     430.00
• Ghana Squash -        $     910.00
• Women in Sports -        $     910.00
• Rowing and Canoeing -        $     930.00
• Ghana Baseball -        $     950.00
• Ghana Swimming Association - $  5,000.00
• Ghana Volleyball -        $  5,000.00
• Ghana Table Tennis Federation -        $  5,000.00
• Ghana Athletics Association -        $10,000.00

These financial supports to the NFs have made it possible for some of their athletes to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

SUPPORT TO NATIONAL TEAM ATHLETES

The GOC currently has 14 National team athletes on the GOC/IOC Scholarship programme; this will ensure some financial support to these athletes all the way to the end of the Olympics in Tokyo.

The breakdown per disciplines for the 2019 and 2020 financial year are;

• 7 Athletes from Ghana Athletics with a total scholarship of $90,000.00
• 3 Athletes from Ghana Boxing with a total scholarship of $30,000.00
• 2 Athletes from Ghana Weightlifting with a total scholarship of $30,000.00
• 1 Athlete from Ghana Judo with a scholarship of $15,000.00
• 1 Athlete from Ghana Shooting with a scholarship of $15,000.00

The GOC also initiated and facilitated the payment of monthly allowance of Ȼ500.00 to 1,500 National Team athletes under the MOYS/YEA financial support scheme.

These financial support and Scholarship have enabled our National Team athletes to focus and have funding for their competitions and upkeep.

WOMEN’S COMMISSION

As a major requirement by the IOC, the GOC inaugurated a Women’s Commission chaired by Ms. Elizabeth King, to champion issues on gender equality and the development of girls and women in sports.

The commission has a membership which cuts across all the various women groupings in the country and it is the hope of the GOC that its impact will begin to be felt at all levels of our society.

OLYMPAFRICA PROJECT (AMASAMAN)

The biggest drawback to our development of the Amasaman (now known as Afiaman) project is Ownership of the Land, even though we managed to construct a wall around the said land, we never really had any legal rights or title to the land. Our ownership had only existed by word of mouth, the allocation of the land to us by the Ministry of Agriculture was deem to be illegal since they had no right to give out government land and making it worse, there was no single letter to the GOC from the Ministry on the transaction. But colleagues today, it is with a lot of joy that I wish to inform you that the Government of Ghana through its custodian of government lands in Ghana, the Lands commission has by a letter of 23rd October, 2020 (and its accompanying site plan) allocated 16.574 acre of the parcel of land at Amasaman in Greater Accra to the Ghana Olympic Committee for the purpose of Sports and Recreation.

I wish to thank His Excellency the Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, the Honorable Minister for Youth and Sports, Mr. Isaac Asiamah, the Late Chief Director at the MOYS, Mr. Frank Quist, The Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, Alhaji Sulemana Mahama, Board members, Hon. Jerry Shaib and Nii Adote Din Barima and last but definitely not the least, Hon. B.T Baba, the past President of the GOC, whose vision to construct a huge Stadium-like wall around the land even without any ownership documents, helped in the land being finally allocated to the GOC.

We have notified the IOC and the OlympAfrica Foundation, who have now agreed to allocate $150,000.00 in its 2021 budget for investment into the Amasaman Centre.

CONCLUSION

On behalf of the Executive Board, the officers and various sub committees of the GOC, I wish to thank members of congress for contributing in no small way to make the GOC what it is today. We will continue to work hard together and ensure that our tenure will see a lot of landmark achievements for our youth and for our sports.

Thank you.

Mr. Ben Nunoo-Mensah, the President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) has accounted for $126,716.00 used to support National Federations’ 2020 Olympic qualifications and other developmental activities in 2019/2020.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday at the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Pitch, Mr. Nunoo-Mensah said, the monies given the Federations were to assist its activities financially.

In his address, he said “One of the key focus of my administration is giving financial assistance to the various National Federations. In 2019/2020 the GOC gave to the various Federations a total of $126,716.00 to help with their qualifiers and or as Development Grants.

According to the President’s Report, the GOC supported the Ghana Football Association with $8,000 and with the Ghana Fencing Association received $5,943 while the Badminton Association of Ghana got $7,540. Ghana Shooting Association had $3,000 with Ghana Taekwondo Federation also getting $31,443 and Ghana Rugby also getting $8,000.

An amount of $5,930 was given to the Ghana Cycling Federation while $4,930 was given to the Ghana Karate-Do Federation while Ghana Weightlifting Federation had $8,000 with Amateur Boxing getting $14,800. The Women Commission also received $430 while Ghana Squash Association had $910.

Women in Sports was supported with a total of $910 while Rowing and Canoeing was also supported with $930 and Ghana Baseball supported at $950. Ghana Swimming Association, Ghana Volleyball Association, and the Ghana Table Tennis Association all received $5000 each with Ghana Athletics Association getting $10,000.

According to the President, the financial supports to the Federations made it possible for some of their athletes to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games rescheduled for 2021 due to the global pandemic, Coronavirus.

Also, the GOC currently has 14 National team athletes on the GOC/IOC Scholarship programme which would ensure some financial support through the athletes’ Olympic qualification to the end of the Games in Tokyo.

The breakdown per disciplines for the 2019 and 2020 financial year are seven Athletes from Ghana Athletics with a total scholarship of $90,000.00, three Athletes from Ghana Boxing with $30,000.00, two Athletes from Ghana Weightlifting received $30,000.00, one Athlete from Ghana Judo took $15,000.00 and an Athlete from Ghana Shooting with a scholarship of $15,000.00.

GNA

NSA and GHA have siged an agreement to renovate the Theodosia Okoh National Hockey Stadium

The National Sports Authority (NSA) together with the Ghana Hockey Association (GHA) have signed an agreement that will see to the renovation of the Theodosia Okoh National Hockey Stadium in Accra.

A statement released by the Public Relations Department of the NSA said that the agreement would ensure that the National hockey edifice would be upgraded to meet the infrastructural requirements of all international games including the upcoming 2023 African Games to be hosted in Ghana.

"This development project, which is being funded by the Ghana National Gas Company is expected to take care of other infrastructure development such as the upgrading of the offices of the Greater Accra Sports Directorate at the Tema Stadium,'' the statement added.

Mr. Kwadwo Baah Agyemang, Board Chairman of the NSA, in a brief statement after the agreement was signed, said he was satisfied with the terms of the agreement, which in his view would go a long way to support sports development in the country.

He urged other corporate organizations to partner the NSA in the area of sports development and the promotion which according to him can ensure a healthy lifestyle among the populace and also guarantee some level of income generation in the hugely untapped sports industry.

Professor Peter Twumasi, Director-General of NSA in his brief remarks thanked the Sector Minister Mr. Isaac Kwame Asiamah and the Governing Board of the Authority for their immense support for this initiative, which was expected to go a long way to ensure Ghana’s readiness for the 2023 African Games.

Dr. Ben Asante, who signed on behalf of the Ghana National Gas Company thanked the Sports Minister and the Director-General of NSA for making this initiative a reality.

He also advised other Associations to partner with the Authority so as to make sports development a profitable venture.

Great Olympics defeated West Africa Football Academy (WAFA) counterparts 1-0 in a match-day six of the ongoing 2020/21 Ghana Premier League.

It was to their third straight victory of the season.

The Wonder Club played majority of the second half with 10 men but held onto Gladson Awako’s solitary first half strike to secure all three points and moved into third position on the league standings with 10 points.

The game was free flowing in the first 20 minuntes with both sides stringing some beautiful passes with no clear cut chances created.

Great Olympics looked very dangerous in the attacking third and deservedly took the lead on the 26th minute mark through their talisman Gladson Awako who delivered stunning strike to put the home side in the lead.

WAFA responded very well after going a goal down and nearly restored parity through Augustine Boateng but Great Olympics goalie Salifu Saed delivered a superb save to deny the away side the equalizer.

The late stages of the first half was very entertaining with some delightful play from both sides but Great Olympics held on to their slim lead as they game went to recess.

WAFA started the second half with more attacking intent as they searched for the equalizer.

Great Olympics were able to weather the early storm of pressure from the Academy Boys and begun to control the game especially in the attacking third as they searched for the cushion goal.

Great Olympics were reduced to 10 men after Micheal Otu received his second yellow card after a silly tackle on Augustine Boateng.

WAFA’s man advantage nearly paid off but Youssif Atte’s 30 yard strike rattled the cross bar with a quarter of the left.

The pressure on the Great Olympics was rampant but Great Olympics goalkeeper Salifu Saed was equal to the task when called upon.

Great Olympics held onto their their lead to secure all three points.

newsghana

The Government of Ghana has through the Ministry of Youth and Sports congratulated the Black Satellites team for winning the WAFU ZONE B Cup.

Ghana beat Burkina Faso 2-1 on Saturday afternoon to win the WAFU Zone B U-20 Nations Cup in Benin.

Burkina Faso broke the deadlock in 16th minute when Kouame Jean Fiacre Botuepounced 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.

Danger man Percious Boah made it 2-1 from a free kick in the 79th minute from 35 yards to increase the lead for the Black Satellites.

"MOYS CONGRATULATES THE BLACK SATELLITES The Government, through the Ministry of Youth and Sports wishes to congratulate the national under 20 male team, the black Satellites for making the nation proud at the just ended 2020 WAFU Zone B under 20 Cup of nations Tournament in Benin" the Sports Ministry tweeted.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Three players of the Black Satellites, Danlad Ibrahim, Kobina Amoah and Percious Boah have been named in the team of the tournament at the just ended WAFU Zone B Cup of Nations in Benin.

The All-time team of the tournament was announced by the technical study group on Monday, December 21, 2020.

Goalkeeper Daland Ibrahim featured in all four games for Ghana putting in some brilliant performances in the course of the tournament. He conceded two goals in the competition against Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso and kept two clean sheets against Nigeria and Niger.

Defender Kobina Amoah and striker Percious Boah played three games for Ghana in the competition.

Percious Boah scored the winning goal against Burkina Faso in the final as well as the winning goal against Nigeria in Ghana’s Group B opener.

The full team of the tournament is attached below

Director of Coaches in Ghana Professor Joseph Kwame Mintah has bemoaned about the hasty decision by club administrators to lay off coaches in the domestic top-flight.

One of the most volatile careers on earth is coaching a football club and tacticians have felt the full brunt for the woes of their clubs.

In the six-game old Ghana Premier League, quite a number of coaches have been booted out of the dugout with Legon Cities setting the tempo for the sacking spree.

Since Goran Barjakteravic’s exit at Legon Cities, Hesse Odamtten of Berekum Chelsea, Tony Lokko of Inter Allies, Edward Nii Odoom (demoted to the youth side of Hearts of Oak) and Maxwell Konadu as well as Slavisa Bozicic have all been axed.

Sharing his opinion in an interview with West FM 87.9 Sports, Professor Joseph Mintah who doubles as the Chairman of the Ghana Coaches Association, agreed the ongoing Ghana Premier League has become extremely competitive but has prayed club administrators exercise patience with their coaching staff.

“The ongoing league has become very competitive because every team is performing very well in each game, I can say that what the clubs are doing is a true reflection of their pre-season preparation before the season,”

He continued: “The FA being the Administrator of the league has put everything in place for the Clubs to improve themselves this season,”

“Club owners should consider certain things, do proper reviews and find out their problems before sacking their coaches because sometimes it can go against them especially when the season is ongoing but for me I don’t support sacking of coaches” he stressed.

 “If Kotoko have sacked their head coach, they know the process of appointing a coach who’s documents are genuine because they have Emmanuel Dassoberi who knows everything”

Professor Mintah in conclusion has advised players that they should continue their training during the Christmas break.

ghanasports

Kumasi Asante Kotoko  have lost their 1983 AFCON winning chairman Assad Mallah.

Mallah died on Saturday morning after battling with a short illness.

Believed to be in his late 80s, Assad who is popularly known as Mr. Kotoko was the chairman of the 1983 CAF Champions League competition.

His reign saw the Porcupine Warriors lifting the Champions League trophy for the second time after their 1978 triumph.

His contribution to the growth and development of Asante Kotoko as well as Ghana football has been hugely remarkable and his passing is certainly a blow to the football family.

He was a strong patron of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG)

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Accra Great Olympics midfielder, Gladson Awako, is looking forward to the day when he will get an invitation to the Black Stars.

Awako, a member of the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup-winning team has been on top form for the Wonder club in the ongoing Ghana Premier League season.

He scored his side lone goal when they defeated WAFA on home turf in matchday 6 on Sunday.

In an exclusive interview with Footballghana.com, the enterprising midfielder says he is aiming to get a call up to the Ghana senior national team.

“I’m a player and is every player's dream or target to be in any of the national teams so if the coaches who are handling the team feels I’m ready or fallen into their style and they feel like I’m playing why not if they invite me I will grab it and take that opportunity,” he said.

Awako is yet to feature for the Black Stars despite his exploits with the youth national teams.

FootballmadeinGhana