Sports
Gaging sports gains in 2024
In 10 days’ time, the year 2024 will pass as one of the most eventful years for sports as a nation.
It may be so due to the myriad of sports activities that got the various national teams and individual clubs busy with international competitions.
But one may also be right in asking what is there to show for those adventures.
Truthfully, one would prefer to walk from Accra to Tema than attempting to answer such a question.
Although there were a few gains to celebrate, the weight of failure clearly overshadows it and leaves sports fanatics in wonder land; uncertain about the direction of sports in Ghana.
Taking stock of the country’s fortunes regarding sports is more or less an annual ritual that usually provide similar answers years in and out; and this year will be no exception.
On our sports calendar, football has been the busiest with the Black Stars involved in FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFCON 2025 qualifiers.
The latter left Ghanaians heartbroken with an unprecedented outcome.
In a group that had Angola, Sudan and Niger, the Black Stars failed to register a single win; losing three games and drawing the same number to finish at the rock bottom of the table with three points.
Eventually, the group was won by Angola’s Palencas Negras and Kwesi Appiah’s Sudan.
The USA, Canada and Mexico World Cup 2026 qualifiers, however, appears to be going well for the Stars with Ghana in second position behind Comoros with the same number of points – nine, out of four matches.
Other countries in Ghana’s group (Group I) include Madagascar, Mali, Central African Republic and Chad, the whipping boys in the group.
The Stars started the qualifers well, chalking a 1-0 home win over Madagascar but was pegged back by Comoros which beat Ghana 1-0.
The team, however, bounced back from that disappointment to beat Mali 2-1 in Bamako in one of the team’s finest performances in the year under review and recorded a 4-3 victory over the Central African Republic (CAF).
At the centre of the Black Stars performance storm was Head Coach Otto Addo who came under an avalanche of criticism for the team’s poor performance.
Ghana Football Association president, Kurt Okraku was also not spared of the backlash as his resignation became the clarion call on the lips of many.
But the two have shown they have very thick skin or might have developed a ‘dead goat’ syndrome, granting them the immunity to withstand the fiery darts of their critics.
On the continental level, FC Samartex and Nsoatreman FC made attempts to rescue Ghana’s free fall but that failed to materialise as their challenges in the CAF Champions League and Confederations Cup competitions collapsed before the league stages.
But there was success for Ghana in football following gold medal performances from the male and female teams in the African Games football competition.
It appears some successes were chalked at the sub-continental level with Kurt Okraku reaping a few results from the WAFU B level.
The Golden Arms, the national armwrestling team was obviously the best team having snatched a total of 41 medals at the African Games consisting of eight gold, 19 silver and 14 bronze medals.
Boxing recorded seven medals, athletics had six, weightlifting had three medals, hockey had two, and taekwondo recorded two medals while swimming had two and volleyball, one.
At the Paris Olympic Games, it was more of participation and acting as tourists than winning medals as Ghana fell short in all the disciplines competed.
But once again, it exposed the issues about poor preparation of athletes and lack of proper facilities back home to help local athletes.
Perhaps, one of the biggest shocks was the failure of the national boxing team, the Black Bombers to qualify for the Olympics.
Generally, it was not an encouraging performance from sports in the year. It actually marked a dip in performance as professional boxing failed to produce a world champion just like athletics, taekwondo, handball, badminton, table tennis, tennis and the others failed in their respective bids.
With a new government set to assume the reins of power and sports development to be championed by a new Sports Minister, it will be incumbent on the responsible agencies for sports development and promotion like the National Sports Authority (NSA) and the various sports federations to put their act together and work towards reviving Ghana sports to its past status.
By Andrew Nortey
The curtains would be drawn on the Ghana Premier League tomorrow, with four teams locked in a fierce battle to avoid relegation.
Nations FC, Young Apostles, Swedru All Blacks, and Basake Holy Stars would hope to avoid joining Eleven Wonders and Hohoe United, who have already been relegated.
Nations FC must be at their absolute best to secure all three points against Karela United at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium, while hoping results elsewhere go in their favour.
After suffering a blow last week with a home loss to Vision FC, Coach Stephen Frimpong Manso, who won the league last season with Bibiani Gold Stars, will be desperate to guide Nations to safety.
However, the task is daunting given Karela’s home form; they have lost only one game at the venue this season.
Another battlefield will be the Baba Yara Stadium, where Swedru All Blacks, would need to beat Asante Kotoko to survive.
For Kotoko’s interim coach, Hamza Obeng, signing off a troubled season with a win would offer some comfort to the ‘Porcupine faithful,’ who have been calling for a new direction for the club.
At the Wenchi Sports Stadium, it is a day of destiny for Young Apostles, who need nothing short of a win against Samartex FC to survive.
Meanwhile, Basake Holy Stars must secure all three points against Dreams FC at the Ampain AAK II Sports Arena to avoid any head-to-head complications that may arise later.
Elsewhere, defending champions Bibiani Gold Stars remain at home at Dun’s Park to welcome already relegated Eleven Wonders.
In other fixtures, Vision FC welcomes Aduana FC to the Nii Adjei Kraku II Sports Complex in Tema, and Berekum Chelsea faces Bechem United FC at Golden City Park. Finally, the Accra Sports Stadium will host newly crowned champions Medeama SC as they visit Accra Hearts of Oak.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
Across the sports world, hosting a tournament or championship has become inseparable from the expectation of absolute victory.
Breaking this down, hosting a major sports tournament comes with a very clear mandate: that is to ‘host and win.’
To ‘host and win’ means a country must successfully organise the championship and climax it by emerging winners.
The concept carries specific cultural weight and comes with different interpretation depending on the context.
In major continental or global events, it refers to the phenomenon where the host nation uses home-ground advantage, local fan support, and familiarity with the climate and facilities to lift the trophy.
A few countries have been able to achieve this in the past but generally, winning a major championship just because one is a home country is incredibly difficult.
This is the reason why Ghana’s failure to win the 24th Africa Seniors Athletics Championship staged in Accra would be pardoned.
It will be preposterous, in fact laughable, for any athletics follower to have such expectation for Team Ghana considering the quality of opposition at the championship.
But one aspect of the ‘host and win’ concept Ghana Athletics and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the championship did not impress was organization at a certain point.
Coming few days after the World Relays championship in Botswana which was excellently staged, expectation was high about Ghana’s ability to also showcase a world class show.
That expectation was also fuelled by the fact that infrastructure was not a problem as Ghana hosted a successful athletics event just about three years ago- the Accra 2023 Africa Games at the same venue.
But it started on a negative note, with complains over food, equipment and other issues flying all over with bloggers making huge capital out of it.
Gladly, Ghana’s Minister for Sports and Recreation, Mr Kofi Adams shed some light on the organization of the event which he said had received wide commendation from many of the participating countries.
According to him, the feedback from some of the countries that have attended previous events suggests that the Accra edition was the best.
The minister explained that Ghana met all organizational protocols since beating Botswana to the bid two years ago and also went on to clarify that some of the reported challenges occurred because only 11 of the 49 participating countries completed the accreditation processes within the spelt out timeline.
Personally, I agree with the sports minister to a large extent. Events of this magnitude often comes with challenges but a country/LOC’s ability to address them go a long way to show a certain level of commitment to stage a great show.
Maybe, what event or sports organisers must take cognizance of at such events is the growing trend of the lack of proper arrangement for the media to carry out their duties.
It was heartbreaking to see journalists, expected to cover the opening of the event, hover around the peripherals just because their space was occupied by the fans.
This is a growing phenomenon across events of late. This is another major concern officialdom must give attention to but for Ghana Athletics, it was a great opportunity to learn to avoid repeats in future.
By Andrew Nortey
