Sports
Planned action for Los Angeles 2028
Rose Yeboah would need the support of the state to improve her performance ahead of Los Angeles 2028
Three weeks of impressive, outstanding and record-breaking performances came to an end on Sunday when the curtain on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was lowered.
It started beautifully with a historic opening ceremony held outside of a stadium; with the river Seine in Paris becoming a major tourist site as hundreds of athletes and officials put up spectacular displays on it to open the ceremony.
However, the controversy over LGBTQ+ and religious issues that followed the scripting or concept for the ceremony can also not be ignored.
The show on Sunday was equally electrifying as it featured the best from sports, music and entertainment sectors to give athletes and fans a perfect giveaways.
There were a few hitches, though. For instance, the men’s triathlon event was delayed for a day following concerns over the quality of water in the Seine River.
Officials postponed the event to improve the swimming portions of the river.
But generally, it will go into the annals of the event as one of the best managed games.
The United States of America once again proved their mettle in sports – not football, total sports, winning 126 medals.
The closest was China with 91 and the Great Britain winning a total of 65.
Definitely, every sports fan would be proud of sports administrators in such regions.
Back home, the Ghanaian contingent of two swimmers on Wild Cards, sprinters and high jumper, Rose Amoaniwaa Yeboah, accompanied by officials have returned and fellow Ghanaians are still proud of them, despite coming home empty-handed.
They cannot be blamed all the time. They competed under difficult circumstances. They were ill-motivated.
Having usually lambasted both athletes and officialdom in the past depending on where the heartbreak will come from, it is important to shift the focus a bit to take a holistic look as Africa as a continent to identify its strengths and weaknesses.
Africa won 39 medals overall made up of 13 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze medals spread across 12 nations.
Kenya recorded the highest number of 11.
Comparatively, that marks an increase of two medals at the Tokyo 2020 games (held in 2021 due to COVID-19 outbreak) held in Japan but below the 45 recorded in Rio 2016.
That raises serious concerns about the direction for sports in Africa. Countries are spending huge sums to develop or build formidable teams to be at the top but it is not so in Africa.
What is available is also not spread evenly as the chunk of the sports budgets are spent on football, sometimes to the detriment of the other sports.
Surely, with this approach, Africa will keep playing second fiddle to the other nations.
But Africa’s problem with sports is actually bigger than what the eye can see and instead of tackling it head on, officials play around them, raising the hopes of her people.
Apart from the issue of finance, African states also face a huge challenge with infrastructure and many other factors that makes it difficult to raise world class athletes or competitors at home.
A piece on the BBC website on the performances of African nations is quite revealing and shocking, and even scary if a Ghanaian dreams about seeing a fellow Ghanaian mount the Olympic podium to receive a gold medal.
According to the report, the team that represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for example, was awarded just over £245m ($313m) for the Paris Olympic cycle.
This may sound like a dream.
The United States, meanwhile, boasts world-class facilities, a college system providing a pipeline of top-level talent in individual and team sports and huge sponsorship deals.
Egypt is the only African country dreaming about closing that huge gap by spending billions of dollars building sports complexes, partly with a view to bid to host the Olympics in 2036 or 2040.
May be, the shortest route to an African challenge is to start planning at a certain level to accept that the continent is lagging behind and instead of practicing mass sports at this level, countries should consider events with competitive advantages.
Botswana won its second successive medal in the men’s 4x400m relay in Paris – with South Africa and Zambia also in that final – and 200m champion LetsileTebogo secured the country’s first ever gold.
Countries that are good in boxing, long distances, the jumps and others must rather focused on investing heavily in them to raise the athletes needed to make the continent proud.
But that could also put the continent in the dark regarding the field and indoor event but no matter the plan of action, it must be one that will put the continent in the limelight.
But a few medals in those with competitive advantages could make a better case than presenting hundreds of half-baked athletes to disappoint.
The countdown for Los Angeles 2028 begun the moment the Games flag was handed over to officials from the popular US state and Ghana, just like other countries, may have less than a week short of four years to prepare.
By Andrew Nortey
Ghana Premier League side, Nations FC, may have suffered the drop in the just ended Premier League and are destined for a fresh campaign in the Division One League (DOL).
But they stand a huge chance of remaining in the elite stage of the game as they face Dreams FC in an epic MTN FA Cup final at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium tomorrow at 6pm.
Dreams FC have been there before; going ahead to taste the honours in the 2022-23 season after defeating King Faisal.
Coming from a season that saw them crawl from the initial stages of the league to finish on a respectable fourth position, they come in as strong favourites to double their honours in the nation’s second top football competition.
History favours them in this regard. On their first final, they conquered and based on this, connoisseurs of the game have tipped them to make it ‘two-on-two.’
But Nations FC have been empowered by the age-old adage that “He that is down need fear no fall.”
Nothing can be worse than suffering relegation and exiting the limelight as far as exposure is concerned.
But the FA offers a decent opportunity to make them stay relevant.
Conquering Dreams FC would not just make them MTN FA Cup champions. It will grant them the prestigious slot to represent Ghana in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) second tier club competition- the Confederations Cup.
With Dreams FC harbouring the same ambitions, the stage is, therefore, set for a final that promises to be explosive and uncompromising.
The situation of Nations FC might have come to many as a surprise, considering their promising start to the season, with their defence especially, marshalled by Black Stars defender, Razak Simpson, and colleague central defender, Raymond Grippman, earning a lot of reviews.
But despite the struggles they endured at certain times of their campaign, the MTN FA Cup always provided slices of good fortunes as they managed to navigate their way to the final.
Road to the top
Nations FC began the MTN FA Cup competition on a promising note, enjoying some good runs with a win over DOL Zone Two side, Ebony FC, in the Round of 64.
That landed them in a tricky encounter with another high-flying Zone Two candidate, AshantiGold SC, a side that eventually won the title from the zone to qualify to the Premier League, but escaped.
At the round of 16 stage, they encountered and defeated Ghana Premier League side, Swedru All Blacks, 2-1 to gain progression to the quarter final stage where they edged Berekum Chelsea on penalties.
A dicey semi-final awaited them against Aduana FC in Swedru. It was a game Nations was given little chance to escape considering Aduana FC’s form but once again, they conquered to secure a final berth.
In total, the Abrankese-based club have scored eight goals and conceded only two throughout the competition, making them one of the strongest defensive sides in the tournament.
For Dreams FC, they defeated Division One League Zone Three side, Semper Fi, 2-1 to progress to the next stage of the competition where they accounted for Division Two side, Asanska FC, 2-0.
That handed them a quarterfinal berth where they faced Inter Allies and drew one all before winning 4-3 on penalties.
The happiest moment in their success story was a 3-2 semi-final win over GPL winners, Medeama SC.
With that feat, Dreams have been touted as potential winners as the match comes at a time the Nations FC side may be psychologically down over the weight of the challenge they face in the next season.
However, the competition has gain notoriety for not following any form guide and outcomes mostly coming as major surprises.
In this regard, Dreams may be tipped as favourite candidates but though Nations are wounded, the stakes could revive an insatiable desire to apply the brakes to turn the dreams of Dreams FC into a nightmare.
Support
The support from MTN Ghana has no doubt improved competition among the clubs with the attractive incentive packages for participating clubs.
MTN Ghana, which is celebrating 30 years of operations in Ghana, formally became headline sponsors of the Ghana FA Cup in the 2010/2011 football season after the competition had returned from an eight-year hiatus.
The first edition under MTN sponsorship was won by Nania FC, who defeated Asante Kotoko 1–0 in the final at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Since then, the competition has been known as the MTN FA Cup, with MTN renewing its sponsorship several times — in 2013, 2017, 2020 and again for subsequent seasons.
By Andrew Nortey
The Black Stars have opened camp in Cardiff ahead of next week’s international friendly against Wales.
The team is being taken through training drills by head coach Carlos Queiroz.
Thirteen players trained at Dragon Park on Monday, with others expected to join the squad on Tuesday.
They include Ernest Nuamah, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Jordan Ayew, Caleb Yirenkyi, Abdul Fatawu Issahaku, Elisha Owusu, Gideon Mensah, Marvin Senaya, Jerome Opoku, Benjamin Asare, Joseph Anang, Solomon Agbasi, and Alidu Seidu.
The Black Stars will train in Cardiff for one week ahead of the international friendly against Wales on Tuesday, June 2, before traveling to the United States of America.
Coach Carlos Queiroz will use the period to assess his players before naming his final squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Twenty-six players will be submitted to FIFA on Monday, June 1, as mandated by the competition regulations.
The Black Stars are drawn in Group L with Panama, England, and Croatia. They will open their World Cup campaign against Panama on June 17 in Toronto before facing England and Croatia in their other group matches.
