Sports
A welcome elections respite
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Ghanaians of voting age would be expected to participate in today’s Presidential and Parliamentary Elections to be held in every district, metropolis, constituency and region of the country.
It is such a very important exercise no fanatic of politics would want to miss due to the quest to have favourite political groupings to wrestle power.
Elections in Ghana for close to three decades have been about two of the biggest political parties in Ghana – that is, the New Patriotic Part (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC).
In between the spaces, a few ‘mushroom’ political groupings have attempted the unthinkable but lived to experience outcomes that questions the rationale behind decisions to even contest.
It is not as if they were unaware of those shocks – they knew perfectly well.
Not even the great Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party (CPP) has managed to break the duopoly the NPP and NDC dominance.
Such is the importance followers of the two parties attach to their respective political parties’ capture power to remain in the helm of affairs as far as development of the country goes on.
Today, the importance of the elections would be felt across the various divides and sectors including sports.
The volatile nature of the exercise has required a suspension of most sports related activities across the country in the various divisions.
Officially, there have not been any formal communication to that effect from sports like boxing, athletics, tennis, golf and others with the aptitude to command the masses.
However, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has officially announced a week break for all members, all of its competitions.
The break is to enable all football stakeholders to perform their civic duties in today’s general election.
What this mean is that the Ghana Premier League (GPL), the Access Bank Division One League (DOL), the Malta Guinness Women’s Premier League (WPL), and all other competitions will take a week’s break.
Apart from enabling people to honour their civic responsibilities, the elections break also provide a welcome relief for the GFA, the Black Stars, Coach Otto Addo and local boxing icon, Ayitey Powers, whose promotional outfit has come under fire for nuisances associated with his promotions.
Starting with Powers, the least said about the confusion generated from his promotions leaves much to be enthused about and not good enough for a young promotional outfit.
Fortunately, his last two promotions have been the biggest – first staging the ‘Power of the Fist’ on June 29 at the Bukom Boxing Arena and headlined by a National Super Middleweight Championship, involving Elvis Aworgah, popularly known as ‘Soldier’ and Ernest Baubali.
Powers staged another big event the last two weekends, which just like the aforementioned event, ended on a controversial after confusion whether the main event was a championship or an eight-rounder.
That caused an abrupt end to an event that had guests spending over 12 hours at the arena.
It left enormous question marks over Power’s promotional integrity and the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) ability to ensure boxing is handled professionally as boxers report very late for promotions while fans are compel to sit and wait for extra hours.
The break will also, surely offer some breather to the GFA and Coach Otto Addo who have been on firing line since the Black Stars failed to qualified for AFCON 2025 in Morocco.
Addo had guided the Black Stars in one of the team’s worst campaigns in AFCON qualifying history, emerging winless in six games played against Angola, Sudan and Niger as all three countries beat and drew with the Black Stars.
The FA has since come under intense pressure to take a decision of the future of Coach Otto Addo who indicated he was going nowhere despite an overwhelming call by fans to quit.
But it appears all those issues have been buried under the carpet while Ghanaians look forward to either give the NPP an unprecedented third term with Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in the saddle or hand the baton over to NDC as former President, John Dramani Mahama, wait patiently to continue with the race.
But assuredly, those issues that remain undigested would not be kept under the carpet forever; as long as there would be life after elections, Insha Allah, football and boxing fanatic would be back to exhaust all.
By Andrew Nortey
In a resolve to build clearer pathway for athletes, the President of the Ghana Taekwondo Federation (GTF), Mr Frederick Lartey Otu, has indicated the new executive’s commitment to strengthen collaboration with major stakeholders in the development and promotion of the sport.
According to him, it would be difficult to achieve its set targets set for the new elected term without a good working relations with such collaborators.
Mr Otu said this when he addressed participants at the closing ceremony of the 16th edition of the Korean Ambassador’s Cup Taekwondo Championship held last Saturday at the Borteyman Sports Complex.
The event saw the Greater Accra Region’s dominance as they amassed a total of 26 medals consisting of 10 gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals.
The Upper East Region followed in second position with a gold, silver and six bronze medals and Western Region in third after annexing a gold and silver medals.
According to him, the new executive will continue to strengthen collaboration with the Ministry of Sports and Recreation (MoSR), National Sports Authority (NSA), Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), the Korean Embassy in Accra, corporate organisations as well as educational institutions and Regional Associations.
“Our recent engagements with key stakeholders have reinforced our belief that there is a willingness to support Ghana Taekwondo when we present clear programmes, demonstrate accountability and work collaboratively,” he stated.
Consequently, he assured of the executive board’s commitment to good governance, transparency, accountability, teamwork and respect for all stakeholders.
“We’ll listen to our regions, clubs, coaches, athletes, officials and members of the Taekwondo family. We’ll continue to improve our administrative systems, documentation, communication, financial planning and programme coordination,” he added.
Mr Otu noted that the board was committed to building a sustainable Taekwondo development system that produces athletes, coaches, referees and administrators capable of representing Ghana with pride.
He said starting this month, the GTF will roll out its first major initiative – the Regional Taekwondo Awareness Campaign, to be launched in the Ashanti Region.
The campaign is designed to take Taekwondo directly to the schools and communities, particularly areas where sporting opportunities are limited.
“Our immediate target is to begin with at least five deprived regions — Northern Region, Upper West Region, Bono Region, Central Region and Ashanti Region — and identify young people with the potential to become future Taekwondo athletes,” he emphasised.
Mr Otu expressed gratitude to the Korean embassy for its continuous support for the championship which he said had given Ghanaian athletes the opportunity to compete, gain valuable experience, test themselves against quality opposition and develop the confidence necessary to progress to higher levels of competition.
At the end of the competition, the embassy presented a number of Taekwondo attires to the GTF to boost the sport’s promotion in Ghana.
By Andrew Nortey
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CAF 2nd Vice President and President of the Ghana Football Association, Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku, has visited the Black Princesses in Poland ahead of their opening game at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The GFA President, who watched the team’s training session, assured the players of the Association’s full support and backed them to make history by qualifying from the group stage for the first time.
“A few days ago, I was in a chat with the head coach and I promised that I was going to join him for what I think is the most important game for us, which is the first game,” President Simeon-Okraku told the team.
“For me, the first game is the most important, because if we start well, chances are that we will do well. History tells us that this team has always been here. We’ve always been at this tournament for seven consecutive times. My inner faith is telling me that we have enough quality here to qualify from this group.”
He praised the players for their sacrifice and patience throughout preparations, saying their investment would be repaid on the pitch.
“You have been patient and gone through the troubles and the hassles. And you are here today. I believe that these sacrifices you have made, these investments you have made, will be repaid,” he said.
The GFA President stressed that Ghana has the quality to overcome their group opponents.
“We are faced by three opponents — Ecuador, Korea Republic and France. These three nations, believe me, are no better than us. We have enough quality in this team to win games in this group and to make it to the second round of the competition.”
“This tournament is played every two years, so after 14 years, this is the 16th year now — this group must be the one that makes it out of the group to the knockout stage. And this must happen.”
“I think the team is ready. The technical team have done a good job. The players have conducted themselves well. We will continue to support you to ensure you get the best to be able to compete at this level.”
He also charged the final squad to make those who missed out proud.
“A few of you were here but didn’t make the squad and had to leave. This is that moment that you have to make them proud.”
President Simeon-Okraku was accompanied to the training ground by Chief of Staff at the GFA, Michael Osekre, and President of Dreams FC, Jiji Alifoe.
Ghana will open their campaign against Ecuador on September 6, 2026, before facing Korea Republic and France in their other group matches.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
