Sports
Faint hopes for Paris 2024 medals
Joseph Paul Amoah – Captain of Team Ghana
The United States of America last weekend announced a 592-member Olympic Team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games scheduled to start from July 26.
The team includes more than 250 Olympians who will be competing in the Games for the second time. It also has three five-time Olympians, four four-time Olympians, 16 three-time Olympians and more than 50 two-time Olympians.
The veteran group includes 122 Olympic medalists, including 66 Olympic champions who have won a total of 110 gold medals. Forty-five athletes have won multiple Olympic medals, while 23 have won multiple Olympic gold medals.
Other powerful sporting nations including the France, Germany, Netherlands, Ethiopia, Kenya and others have all announced impressive squads for the showpiece with not less than 10 medal prospects.
For Ghana with a squad number of nine athletes to be captained by Joseph Paul Amoah (Athletics) with virtually no Olympics credentials, it would be a time to embrace the assuring Olympic motto that motivates countries with less pedigree to keep participating.
But for that principle which reads that, “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well,” Team Ghana would have no business being at the Games.
Far from sounding skeptical, one can comfortably urge Ghanaians not to be highly expectant as far as winning medals was concerned.
Thankfully, the team’s preparation and discussions on winning medals have been on low key, perhaps due to this reality.
For the Team Ghana captain, Amoah, it will be his second appearance at the Olympics and would ride on the back of that previous experience to lead the team.
The nine-member team would also have Fuseini Ibrahim (4×100), Isaac Botsio (4×100), Benjamin Azamati (4×100, 100m), Edwin Gadayi (4×100), and Abdul Rasheed Saminu (100, 200m).
Others include Joselle Mensah (swimming), Harry Stacey (swimming), and Rose Yeboah (high jump).
But they lack the promise of a side capable of adding to Ghana’s five medals from the Olympics Games made up of one silver and four bronze.
Amoah was unable to qualify for the 200m race for failing to meet the competition’s 48-athlete quota with his 62nd world ranking.
He would, however, compete in the 4x100m after leading the relay team to qualification at the World Athletics Relay in the Bahamas.
He would compete in the 4x100m relay alongside Benjamin Azamati, Edwin Gadayi, and Solomon Hammond.
Abdul-Rasheed Saminu only gained qualification to run in the 100m race via the World Athletics ranking system and not by a competitive time.
Of the 56 top athletes expected for the event, he is ranked 54th.
Azamati also secured qualification through the ranking system after placing 39th.
The statistics present a gloomy picture and put Team Ghana in the category of firm believers of this Olympics principle, aiming at participation and not necessarily to win.
By Andrew Nortey
Attention will be at the Golden City Park in Berekum tomorrow as Hearts of Oak lock horns with Berekum Chelsea FC in a Ghana Premier League Matchday 6 game that promises an electrifying atmosphere.
Lying sixth on the league table with two wins and three draws, the Phobians visit a ground that has been favourable to them in recent times. In their last three visits to the Golden City Park, Hearts have amassed seven out of nine points, putting them in strong contention to win.
Head Coach Mas-Ud Didi Dramani says, “The team is making progress in its tactical identity despite the lack of goals, and this is something we are working on ahead of this game.”
Hearts will come face-to-face with former coach Samuel Boadu, whose side lies a distant 13th on the league table with a win and a draw from four games. Coach Boadu is yet to celebrate a victory over the Phobians since joining the Berekum lads and would hope this fixture marks a turnaround.
Ninth-placed Vision FC would trek to the Nana Fosu Gyeabour Park in Bechem to play Bechem United, while new boys Hohoe United host Aduana FC at the Hohoe Sports Stadium.
Returnees Swedru All Blacks will welcome Basake Holy Stars to the Swedru Sports Stadium, with defending league champions Bibiani Gold Stars staying put at their backyard, the Dun’s Park, to welcome second-placed Heart of Lions FC on Monday.
Today at the TnA Stadium in Tarkwa, Medeama SC will clash with Samartex FC in a Western derby. Other games scheduled for today would see Eleven Wonders FC host Karela United at the Swedru Sports Stadium, while Dreams FC face Nations FC at the Tuba Astro Turf.
By Raymond Ackumey
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
Ghana coach Otto Addo may not command the kind of fear and respect like Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Luis Enrique and others in the modern game, but in his small corner, he is gradually climbing the ladder to greatness in Ghana, Africa and the world at large.
The aforementioned coaches attained greatness with club sides and, therefore, open an argument over whether one is not comparing apples to oranges. But no matter how one looks at it, they are all coaches harbouring similar ambitions to attain greatness in their fields.
Otto Addo is one of the young and upcoming coaches holding a lot of promise and was getting experience with his association with Borussia Dortmund in Germany until his path was directed by a Ghana call.
Although he was born in Germany, Otto Addo’s association with Ghana football dates back to 1999, spanning a period of about seven years; commencing with a 5–0 rout of Eritrea on February 28. He gained international prominence when he joined the squad for the 2000 African Cup of Nations. He featured as a midfielder in the team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
But like it’s often said, a prophet is not recognised in his own home and his efforts partially went unnoticed. He’ll go into the annals as one of the Black Stars coaches to have been fairly or otherwise criticised not just by ‘football people’ but fans who doubted him.
His sack has been discussed at various platforms by people whose knowledge and tactical acumen about the game remains questionable. Ghana’s Minister for Sports and Recreation, Mr Kofi Adams, at one point openly stated his doubts over Otto Addo’s ability to actually deliver.
No coach would feel secured in such turbulent times, but coach Otto Addo kept his calm and composure. On the corridors of his employers, however, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) president, Kurt Okraku, openly rallied support for him, though a few ‘doubting Thomases’ still questioned his credentials.
That painted a picture of a people that forget easily and are quick to crucify. In a brief moment of adversity, Ghanaians forgot how Otto Addo was brought in to pluck qualification for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup from the jaws of the Super Eagles of Nigeria with a solitary goal over two legs.
The upshot of that feat was not one any Nigerian would want to remember. The scenes after the match were awfully chaotic, as fans vented their anger on facilities at the stadium. Back in Ghana, it was partying all night and day.
Otto Addo was labeled the football magician. He achieved something no Ghanaian coach had ever accomplished; a feat which Ghana with her all-time best teams could not attain. That was the climax to which Otto Addo took Ghana football, generating calls to start believing in the Ghanaian coach.
Following that to the World Cup proper was another story altogether. It was, or may have been, our poorest show at any of the four World Cup appearances. And just as it was stipulated in his contract, he bowed out after the Qatar World Cup to mind his Borussia Dortmund business with peace.
But as fate would have it, nature found a way to renew his romance with Ghana football after an unconvincing start to the America, Canada and Mexico dream World Cup under special advisor turned coach, Chris Hughton.
Ghana started the qualifiers on a winning note but not a convincing performance. It was saved by an Inaki Williams goal scored on the sixth minute of additional time against Madagascar at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium. The Black Stars then slumped to a 1-0 defeat at the Stade de Moroni to Comoros to heighten calls for a new technical direction.
Then stepped in Otto Addo when Ghana occupied the fourth position in Group I with three points but with the countries in the group evenly matched.
By Andrew Nortey
