Sports
Takyi’s bravado saves a nation’s Olympic blushes
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To the cavilers, Ghana’s campaign at the Tokyo Olympic Games was disastrous. To others, it was a cameo suggesting there is great future ahead.
Amid a typhoon-like Covid pandemic that ruthlessly swept its anger across the world – killing thousands – and destroying livelihoods, Japan’s capital Tokyo, still proceeded to welcome some 11,500 passion-driven athletes to the Games.
So, after the hustles and bustles of intense chase, 14 athletes from Ghana were able to make the Olympic qualification nark – swaggering into a quadrennial event that has not given the nation a medal since 1992 in Barcelona, Spain, when the Black Meteors clinched what was Africa’s first medal (bronze) in football.
Again, for 49 years, no single individual sport has given the nation a medal.
Truth is that expectation of a medal from Tokyo was deemed almost a distant possibility. Even the biggest optimist doubted for once – reason being that preparation was woefully inadequate.
However, captain of Ghana’s amateur boxing team (Black Bombers), Sulemana Tetteh, on July 26 offered the nation the biggest hope as he won his first bout – silently knocking off any lingering doubt of a medal fiasco in Tokyo.
But two days later, Ghana’s representative in judoka Sensei Anani Kwadjo was swatted aside in the 90kg event. It was a learning curve for the 21-year-old who bowed to a more experienced South Korean.
On the same night, the unheralded Samuel Takyi wrapped up a unanimous 5-0 win against Ecuador’s Caicedo Pachito in his opening featherweight contest.
Sadly, the joy that greeted Takyi’s victory was to evaporate with humiliating rapidity few hours later when light heavyweight Shakur Samed was technically stopped by his Turkish opponent Bayram Malkan. It was a humbling experience too for the loser whose siblings were also ‘medal-less’ at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Come July 29, Ghana’s finest swimmer Abeiku Jackson, finished first in the 100m men’s butterfly. Many Ghanaians cart-wheeled into celebration only to be told that his time of 53:39, was not enough to see him into the semi-final stage. All the same, it was a great performance, and a corking one for the future. A day later, though, Abeiku’s swimming compatriot Unilez Takyi – placed last in the women’s 50m freestyle event. No comment on that one.
Perhaps, the most bewildering performance came from Nadia Eke in the triple jump – recording no jumps in all three attempts. It was limpidly clear she was not ready for the event; maybe, just happy to have tasted Olympics.
Little wonder, Eke was quick to announce her retirement soon after her failure.
On Saturday, July 31, Benjamin Azamati surprised many Ghanaians after placing fourth during heat 7 of the 100m race, recording 10.13 secs. Winner of that heat was Australia’s Rohan Browning. He was tipped to do far better.
Azamati made history by breaking a 22-year national record held by Leo Myles Mills on March 26, 2021 in Texas, USA, by clocking 9.97 seconds to qualify for the Tokyo and many he could reenact that performance. He blames his Tokyo performance to stage fright. Well, he is a huge potential.
On same day, Christian Amoah slumped badly in weightlifting, attributing his bad output to an injury he sustained earlier. It looks like he had seen his last Olympics, having tasted the previous one in Rio, Brazil.
After bouts of bitter-sweet recordings, the biggest joy popped up like champagne in the early hours of August 1 when Takyi decisioned his opponent 3-2 and hopped into the medal zone – basically giving Ghana its first boxing medal (bronze) since Prince Amartey in Munich ’72. A 49-year-old demon was effectively exorcised by the 21-year-old lad who has proven to be a huge revelation in Tokyo.
On July 3, Takyi attempted to box his way beyond his bronze feat but crashed 1-4 to the more experienced United States’ Duke Ragan.
The defeat, notwithstanding, the former ‘truck pusher’ has written his name in the hearts of Ghanaians. He was the biggest thing that happened to Ghana in Tokyo – and must be hugely celebrated when the contingent returns home.
Any hope for the sprints? Well, Sprinter Joseph Paul Amoah finished third in heat 7 to cruise into the semis but subsequently failed to make the final cut later.
But when it all appeared that athletics was not going to make any big impression, Ghana’s 4x100m men’s quartet qualified for the Olympic finals with a new national record of 38.08 secs. As of press time, the team was preparing to dash for the medal race. Who knows it might be another medal for Ghana? And, that would have been awesome!
Having said that, the total performance of our contingent indicated that we could have done better if we had prepared well. It was no Covid issue. We failed to invest in our preparations and the upshot was exactly what we reaped.
We must be extremely lucky to be returning with something, courtesy Takyi! He saved the nation’s Olympic blushes!
PlainTalk with JOHN VIGAH
Nations FC face a crucial test on Sunday when they host Malian side FC Diarra in the second leg of the CAF Confederation Cup preliminary round at the Accra Sports Stadium.
The Ghanaian debutants trail 1-0 from the first leg and need at least two unanswered goals to advance to the next round of the competition.
FC Diarra scored the only goal of the first leg in the 55th minute after a nervy first half in Bamako to take a slender advantage into the return leg.
Nations FC will be looking to make home advantage count. After that narrow defeat away in Bamako, Coach Zdravko Logarusic’s side knows they cannot afford to be wasteful in front of goal.
The Abrankese-based club, who lifted the MTN FA Cup last season, will rely on their attacking prowess and creativity from midfield to break down a resolute Diarra defence.
FC Diarra, on the other hand, will come into the game with confidence, holding a slender lead. The Malian side is expected to sit deep and hit on the counter, knowing that an away goal will force Nations FC to score three.
The key will be how quickly Nations FC can get an early goal to settle the nerves at the Accra Sports Stadium. An early goal will make the tie wide open.
Richard Danso, Ishmael Dede, Victor Quarshie and former Ebusua Dwarfs and Hearts of Oak player Dennis Korsah made an impression in the first leg and will need to combine effectively with the likes of Ouedraogo Fatahou, Abdela Mashud and Julien Dipanda to give Nations the needed victory on Sunday.
In Bamako, Nzoley Frederick made a cameo appearance for the Ghanaian side in place of Issaka Emmanuel as Nations FC searched for a way back into the game, but his introduction had little influence as FC Diarra held firm for the win.
With a passionate home crowd expected to throng the Accra Sports Stadium, Nations FC will be hoping to overturn the deficit and keep Ghana’s representation in this year’s Africa inter-club competition alive.
Victory over FC Diarra would see Nations FC advance to the second preliminary round, where they would face either Niger’s AS ZAM or Burkina Faso’s ASKO de Kara. Kick-off is at 3:00 PM at the Accra Sports Stadium.
GFA COMMUNICATIONS
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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