Sports
Black Rockets, our hope for years to come
The failure to produce world champions, coupled with struggles of the national boxing team, the Black Bombers, have conspired to cast dark shadows over the progress of boxing in Ghana.
Since the loss of world titsles won by Richard Commey and Isaac Dogboe, the last set of world champions, Ghana has failed to get a boxer closer to that dream at the pay-per-punch level.
At the amateur level, the story has been gloomy for the Ghana Boxing Federation; failing to qualify boxers to major events, including the last Olympic Games.
These teething challenges must occupy the thoughts and minds of the administrators instead of the boardroom wrangling that has created chaotic scenes on the boxing space.
Clearly, some promotions staged recently were indicative of the fact that Ghana as a country has not lost it all. There are some boxers who are showing enough talents that needed the help of officialdom to make that giant leap to the international stage.
At the amateur level, the Black Bombers are not bereft of talent to take their rightful place in international boxing. What is missing are the regular competitions locally and the ability to partake in international competitions to stay alert and competitive.
The news of the Black Rockets- the younger version of the Black Bombers- to have shone at the just ended Africa Youth Boxing Championship in Guinea, therefore, comes as a gratifying news for lovers of the sport.
It is also a big feather in the cup of the GBF led by Mr Bernard Quartey under whose administration the feat was chalked.
The team, according to reports, put up a spirited performance at the 2025 Africa Youth Amateur Boxing Championship and capped it with three gold medals.
But for the Africa Games Accra 2023 success, this feat would have been the biggest in over decades.
The gold medals came from Desmond Pappoe, who knocked out South Africa’s Mighty Sangoni in the second round of the Men’s Middleweight (75kg) division, as well as Mathias Ashitey in the flyweight (51kg) category and George Dowouna in the bantamweight (54kg) division.
This win offers an assurance of Ghana’s ability in youth and amateur boxing, and the need to begin to raise new champions and potential world beaters through a systematic way of identifying talents for grooming.
Pappoe, Ashittey and Dowuona are young and upcoming brawlers at the youthful stages of the sport, getting guidance and tuition from another breed of upcoming coaches hungry for honours.
This is surely the way to go. It is important for the GBF to first of all identify such dedicated coaches whose focus must solely be on these youngsters.
Sometimes, the shift in concentration – as coaches manage both youngsters and professionals at the same time – bring a lot of distractions which in the end affects their upbringing.
These dedicated coaches must be trained and sponsored to participate in courses run by the International Boxing Association (IBA) to be certified.
After this, their core mandate should be a recruitment of young and talented boxers to join the Black Rockets.
The focus of this generation of boxers must be to participate in championships similar to the Africa Youth Championships or locally organised ones and finally aim to compete for spaces in the Black Bombers’ team.
For the feat, they deserve the commendation of all. Just as agencies of sports appear to have opened doors to welcome them and also share in the glory, it is a fervent hope and prayer that when the need for support arises for the Rockets to make similar trips, those doors would not be shut on them. Ayekoo to the Black Rockets.
By Andrew Nortey
Sports
‘Black Stars not there yet’
After seeing Mali undone by Alexander Djiku’s second half strike to give Ghana a 1-0 victory over Mali on Monday in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Accra, Otto Addo gave his thoughts in the post-match press conference.
Below are excerpts.
On the game against Mali
You could see that we have a young squad and players who haven’t been playing often for the national team so far; that made them nervous. I think we got a good game.
We increased the pressure early in the second half, and managed to score out of a set piece. And then it was pure fight afterwards, especially the period after the goal.
On decision-making in the final third
I think if you have played before, you know that sometimes there’s a little bounce from the ball or the position is close and you think too much, I told them actually, but as a footballer, it’s normal that you try to look for a perfect solution.
Semenyo’s performance
He did really well, you know, it’s difficult to compare games from the Premier League with games in Africa and Ghana. It’s very, very difficult and then all games have their own nature and surely you can say that he stands more out in the Premier League, but for me today he was excellent, he fought until he couldn’t run anymore.
On Gideon Mensah
Well, I think sometimes he’s a little bit too confident and we had, especially after the Chad game, had some talks and for everyone who has played football on a higher level.
If he does it in La Liga, it’s fine because in La Liga, if you lose the ball to your opponent, he will counter-press you. He needs to simplify his game sometimes. Didn’t look too complicated, but it’s difficult sometimes if you’re coming from a different environment to switch your thinking.
On Kwasi Sibo’s performance
First of all, big congrats for him. I think he really did well. It’s not easy to come from a different environment to fit into the squad, but yeah, he knows a lot of players already in the team and he connected well. He’s very, very confident and I think he did extremely well, especially when you see that this was his first match. .
On Ghanaians being overly expectant
No, I think the expectations are normal. We are Ghana. For me, if everybody is talking before the Chad game that we already won and we are already taking the three points, it’s dangerous because if this gets to the heads of the fans, it’s a problem for me.
I’m warning everybody who think we have already gone to the World Cup to take things easy. It’s not like that. We have to give the same effort as today to beat Central African Republic. If we don’t do this, it’s a big problem. We have a lot of work to do. A lot of work. It’s going to be very, very difficult.
On goal scoring
You know, the last window, we scored eight goals. I think it was ok, but we can’t expect it all the time. So I hope that the players who missed the chances would score the next time. But it’s all about learning, improving and adapting always to the circumstances.
And I think in each situation, they could have taken one, two, three steps more or more time to look for the partner to have a better overview to give the right pass.
Sports
Black Queens Set to Face England Lionesses in International Friendly
The Black Queens will face the Lionesses of England in a high-profile international friendly on December 2,2025 per agreement between the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the England Football Association.
After reaching the semi-finals at the 2024 WAFCON, the Black Queens are determined to build on that performance and establish themselves among the elite teams on the continent.
This match comes off as part of Ghana’s preparations for all international assignments, including the 2026 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (WAFCON).
The fixture against England, one of the world’s top-ranked sides and reigning European champions, is expected to provide the Queens with a tough test that will sharpen the squad.
Head coach Kim Lars Björkegren will also seize the golden opportunity to measure the team’s progress, expose the players to world-class opposition, and correct areas that need improvement.
The Black Queens will head into the encounter motivated to put up a strong performance, not only to test their readiness but also to showcase the strides Ghana continues to make in women’s football on the international stage.
