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From Sammy Heywood Okine

Ms Ayushatu Aminu, an inmate of Safe-Child Advocacy in Kumasi, was crowned the overall winner in the third Captain One Golf Society Kids’ Tournament played at the Royal Golf Club, Kumasi.

The 18-year-old lady received a trophy, medal and a golf club set with trolley donated by Gals in Golf, a USA based all ladies golf group, as her award.   At the end of a four-hole competition, Ayishatu Aminu proved herself as captain of the juniors by winning the competition with 29points followed by Juliana Nassah with 32points, with Adam Fadila finishing third with 35points.

Jennifer Satura came fourth with 35points while Paula Kokame finished fifth with 35points. Gifty Baba with 37points came sixth while Zakia Hudu and Modesta Satura finished seventh and eighth respectively with 38points and Esther Atta came nineth with 41points.

In the longest drive, Hawah Adam finished first followed by Asana Adam, Francisca Opoku, Paula Kokame and Princess Alhassan. Pauline  Kokame  won  the  Chipping  followed  by  Asana  Adam,  Princess  Alhassan,  Francisca Opoku and Hawah Adam while Paula Kokame won the putting and was followed by Princess  Alhassan, Asana Adam, Francisca Opoku and Hawah Adam.

In an interview with the media after her award, she expressed joy in winning this tournament and thanked her coaches for the counselling and guidance to becoming a good golfer.

“My coach psyched me to win this year so that was my idea coming into this competition and that helped me. I took my lessons seriously and I was relaxed and that did the magic for me,” she said.

An elated Aminu thanked Captain One Golf for the giving her an opportunity to realise her God-given talent in golf adding “if it was not for Captain One Golf, I am not sure I would have been here, and no one would have noticed me as Ayisha, so Captain One Golf Society has really done a lot for me and my colleagues. “Anytime and I sit and reflect on how far we have come through Captain One Golf Society; we always count ourselves lucky to get this opportunity and we will use it well because golf can take us far.”

As part of measures to keep them busy on the course, a monthly medal was organised for them at the Royal Golf Club, Kumasi and at the of the year, Jennifer Satura with 84points led at the  leaderboard followed by Mary Torheptey with 77points and Ayisha Aminu with 63points.

Finishing fourth was Modesta Satura with 48points, followed by Juliana Nassah in fifth place with 47points and Paula Kokame sixth with 37points. Meanwhile, Cecilia Jijira with 35points came seventh while Zakia Hudu and Fadila Adam both with 28points finished eighth.

Esther Attah placed 10th with 27  points  with   Gifty   Baba   finishing   11th  with 24points  while Pauline Kokame came 12th with a point.

The   competition   was   supported   by   Servaco   PPS,   Kinkubi   Solutions,   RK   Cliste,   Industrial Procurement Services, Flo Polo Designs, Run On Time Engineering, PEEW-Williams Services, Smart Procurement and Logistics, SK Logistics and Constructions, Royal Golf Club Kumasi, and Mosak Photograph.

Source Ken Adade

Ghana's Elvis Ahorgah was stopped by Hassan Mwakinyo of Tanzania in the 7th Round of his quest to annex the WBO Africa Middleweight Championship in Zanzibar.

The fight, which took place at the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar, was billed as “Mtata Mtatuzi” (The Problem Solver). Mwakinyo lived up to the billing, putting Ahorgah down twice in the seventh round before the referee stepped in to stop the contest.

Hassan Mwakinyo was very good on the day and deserved to win the exciting bout which was officiated by Ghanaian referee May Mensah Akakpo.

Ahorgah comes from the Fit Square Gym handled by Coach Lartey.

President of WBO Africa, Samir Captan who is also a Ghanaian presented the title belt to the winner.

He said winning the WBO Africa title is an opportunity to be ranked among the best in the world and congratulated the new champion.

Ghana boasts of some WBO Africa champions like Lightweight Sheriff Quaye, Featherweight John Laryea, Super Welterweight Jacob Tetteh all from the Bronx Boxing Gym and Osman Haruna now with the James Town Gym.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Mr. Steavano Kojo Tuekpe was on Saturday January 27, 2024 elected new Vice President of the Ghana Kickboxing Association at an impressive Congress which took place at the Media center of the Accra Sports Stadium.

He was not in Ghana due to professional duties in Germany, was represented by his brother who stood to his ground when there was a tie between Steavano and Isaac Aikins.

Steavano won the second round by 13 votes to 9 votes. The first poll ended 12 votes for each candidate.

In a telephone interview, he thanked all the delegates for a successful Congress and commenced all who voted for him.

He promised to play his role effectively to ensure s dramatic change in Ghana Kickboxing, by organising more bouts not only in Accra, but the other towns like Kumasi, Takoradi, Cape Coast, Tamale and Ho.

"We need to spread our message of sports is life to the whole of Ghana" he said

He spearheaded the organization of the 'African Open at Tema, which involved Taekwondo, Judo, Karate Do, Mixed Martial Arts and Kickboxing.

According to the former Taekwondo star, the African Open 2024 will be held once again in Ghana due to the splendid performance of the media, officials and athletes.

He expressed that the rewards for the winners will be reviewed and improved, stressing that the safety of athletes is very important.

Steavano Tuekpe is the Special Rep of President of WKUworld in Africa and Ghana.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Alfred Lamptey and his trainer Ebenezer Adjei leaves Accra, Ghana tonight (Sat. January 27, 2024) to Johannesburg, South Africa for a training camp prior to their scheduled fight on March 2, 2024 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The team will train in Hot Box Gym in Johannesburg under the direction of Colin Nathan - an accomplished world champion trainer for the next 4 weeks before the team moves to Dubai to round up their training at Round 10 Boxing Gym to be ready for the fight in Abu Dhabi.

Alfred Lamptey who won multiple titles at the Super featherweight will now move up to the Lightweight to face a French Super Featherweight - *Jaouad Belmehdi* also moving up to the Lightweight for the said showdown.

The event will be promoted by AAM Seddiqi Sports under the auspices of Abu Dhabi Cultural Ministry.

Source BoxOffce

In a cited article on the UCI website " www.uci.ch", which read " _UCI rules new track cycling series a forbidden event and threatens to fine riders_ ", I shook from my wooden seat, yawned and shook my head on both sides in extreme astonishment.

The first question I asked myself was "What offence or sin at all has African Riders committed"? I stressed on " African Riders" because they are the most vulnerable in cycling as sports and is the UCI aware of that?

DERBYWHEEL EMERGENCE

It was during the middle part of last year that I encountered this unique entity after my over 15 years in the Cycling industry as a writer, commentator and administrator for the Ghana Cycling Federation and other Africa national federations.

And indeed after been educated on the vision and mission of Derbywheel into the African scope, I smiled in tears because the word and suffering of African Cycling had end at least to some extent.

I read with keen optical lenses the vision of Derbywheel which " _is a new Global Pro Keiren event focused on globalizing historic Professional Keiren Track Cycle Racing which currently is organized largely as a domestic enterprise in Japan and Korea._

The mission was to create an open Professional Keiren League with equal accessibility available for the entire cycling family providing benefits, venues and other stakeholders across the globe._

And the second visionary point is eve far refreshing  

" _They will be establishing an annual calendar hosting Derbywheel events each week across multiple territories which would be distributed as Sports betting content to legitimate bookmakers across the world. This is where UCI says it had problems with_ . I will come there.

DERBYWHEEL INTENTIONS

We all know at this stage that Derbywheel intends to provide a new foundation to the vulnerable track cyclists ecosystem that will help make the economy model of the sport more sustainable and facilitate growth.

Secondly, these events will _provide significant additional earning potential for riders at all levels making the sport sustainable for existing riders and providing a pathway for new riders to enter the sport._

Thirdly, Derbywheel would _initiate talent development through the creation of Keiren academies, and working in tandem with National Federations to complement this effort_ .

Fourthly, Derbywheel plans _to utilize velodrome across Africa and the globe providing important sources of revenue and content_ .

Lastly, Derbywheel _plans investing in charitable and community initiatives to create a positive impact._

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

I read with deep concern on that article that UCI says any rider who competes in the Derbywheel racing could face a fine of up to 10,000 CHF (£9,164) and a suspension of up to six months.

We are able to read the Derbywheel report in outlining the integrity measures that will be undertaken particularly in relation to competition manipulation and anti- doping. This report, I further read, was submitted on the 6th December, 2023 and shared with other key stakeholders.

UCI, in this instance should be a bit considerate and understand that the ultimate interest in every Sporting discipline is make money to sustain oneself especially in Africa?

For over two decades,the 54 Africa countries have only one standard velodrome, and Riders have suffered the most in their quest to live up to their dream in the Cycling sport. How much does an African Rider earn even in a year? Few countries could be mentioned here, Rwanda, Algeria, Eritrea, South Africa or Morocco where the Gross Domestic Product of their economies slightly soars over others like west Africa and Central Africa.

Tagging an event as forbidden is too harsh especially as that event has the tendency to change the lives of the riders involved. We cannot compare cycling in Europe, Oceania or the Americas to that of Africa. That is a fact.

So I ask- what is the problem? The welfare of the athlete is paramount and that clause being quoted has no role here.

Derbywheel has not stated they are in to topple the activities of the UCI or to take over from the world body. It rather seeks to facilitate the welfare of the riders by infecting more financial assistance into the game - something the UCI itself knows has been difficient in for so many years.

African Riders have to struggle to attend programs abroad due to financial woes. They are " forced" to squeeze water out of stone for championships, pay for exorbitant hotel fees and more painfully secure their own air tickets just to compete in calendar events.

Most often, embassies denied visas to travel to compete in the name medal just because most riders statement of their accounts does not meet the standards of visa requirement of some countries, hence their denial of visas.

More disturbing is that most of the championships, there are no financial prizes at these events. So how does a National Federation accrue the loses made in participation at such events. Very sad.

How many African countries can boast of a velodrome? And so how do we perform in track events? The UCI has failed in this chapter by not accepting to assist in this exercise in Africa.

This is why Derbywheel has come to assist in complementing the efforts of the world body (UCI) by making the sport more attractive.

Look, over a hundreds of sporting events have betting on them, including Football. And who says there is no integrity in football because of betting?

The salvo in quoting regulations/constitutional causes on betting etc cannot be a hindrance to the welfare betterment of riders. In any case Derbywheel has clearly stated its stance.

I believe UCI and DerbyWheel seat to consider riders welfare in cycling as a sport.

This should be refreshing.

If the UCI referred to integrity measures as a basis of "forbidding" the launch of the Derbywheel event in April, it should reflect on the previous cheating stances of some elite riders like Lance Armstrong etc despite the existence of that clause in the regulations.

WHAT WE WANT

Followers of the Sport in Africa want to express our disappointment from the corridors of the UCI on this particular subject matter.

The battle against Derbywheel will not serve any good purpose in the prime interest of the Sport. The UCI should sit by the table, realize and recall its bitter and ridiculous fine of 10,000 CHF ( 9,164) on riders should they partake in the Derbywheel event in April.

The UCI should know that Derbywheel is in to raise the hopes of riders, to use the Sport to create a better living for African Riders especially.

What is the essence of competing in an event? Riders stand the chance of sustaining injuries, no better nutrition, etc .

These weekly events by Derbywheel and the monies to be made is simply adorable. Why wouldn't over 400 riders across the globe subscribe to it? There is something missing.

The UCI knows that African Riders are very vulnerable when it comes to Air ticketing. Yet they are forced to look for monies to transport their riders no matter what to events.

UCI must understand that Governments and corporate bodies in Africa are less interested in financing a sport like cycling for reasons I cannot tell.

FINAL WORDS

As a senior journalist in Ghana and an advocate in African cycling, I have every conviction that the  Derbywheel initiative is the saviour at this moment and that the lives of riders would receive a better change of life.

UCI should realize that the regulations was made by man and that the welfare of the riders are paramount.

Sanctioning riders to that ridiculous tune of an amount cannot hold waters. How many Doctors and Lawyers in Africa even make such amount for a living a month. It is a "killer blow" for African Cycling and should be looked at.

Imposing such strong sentiments on African Riders amounts to suppressing the wims and caprices of the riders' and subjecting them to "either you take it or you leave it attitude". That is not fair.

The level of employment Derbywheel brings to the table is beyond measure and that is the spirit of the Sport. We do cycling to gain and not to lose.

It is even interesting to note that world class riders like Sir Chris Hoy once explored oro Keiren japan and that has contributed to him who he is now.

I am utterly optimistic in the not too distant future Derbywheel would be attracted to over a thousand riders across the globe.

The likes of Christiano Ronaldo, Leonel Messi, etc. are rich because of the sport they play in. What can cyclists boast of?

I think Derbywheel is a saviour. The welfare of the riders matters. Support Derbywheel to do more for global cyclists.

We shall continue to discuss with the product of cycling as a sport(Riders) of their take on this juncture.

Source Dennis Moore

Yakubu Abdul Razak elected new President of the Ghana Kickboxing Association

Yakubu Abdul Razak has been voted as the new President of the Ghana Kickboxing Association after he defeated Mr. Raja Owusu-Ansah in the smooth, transparent, free and fair election organised by the National Sports Authority (NSA) on Saturday January 27, 2024 at the Media Center of the Accra Sports Stadium.

Yakubu Abdul Razak aka Commando polled 14 votes over former President Raja Owusu-Ansah who got 12 votes.

There was a tie in the vote for Vice President and when it was re run. Steavano Kojo Tuekpe had 13 votes against Isaac Aikins with 9 votes.

Samuel Mensah lost the Treasurer position to Sakeyfio Winslow by 6 votes to 16 votes.

Stephen Akrong, Derrick Macaire, Isaac Kwadwo Frimpong Ansah, Wisdom Sallah and Seth Larkotey Mensah were elected Executive Members. Wilfred Nii Ansah Annan withdrew for Joshua Tei Mensah.

All the various constituents comprising clubs, gyms, referees and coaches of Ghana Kickboxing Association were present and the delegates voted in peace and harmony.

Mr. Hussien Addy, Representative of the National Sports Authority (NSA) who conducted the election commended the delegates and contestants for comporting themselves well.

Mr. Owusu Acting Technical Head of the NSA advised the new board to spread the sport to the regions and update their regulations.

Newly elected President Razak urged all stakeholders in Kickboxing to come together to develop and promote the sport.

He appealed to sponsors to support Ghana Kickboxing.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

It was an all Ghanaian affair at the InterRecruit final as Johnson Acquah defeated Lemack Bagerbaseh in the final at the National Tennis Center, Accra.

The weeklong tennis tournament had countries from Togo, Benin and host nation Ghana.

Johnson started strongly and dominated both sets 7-6(5), 7-6(3) in 2 hours and 15 mins. “It's been a long journey, but a very special one," said Johnson Acquah, who didn't miss a point during the tournament. “I played some of my best tennis, honestly.

During the fourth round, quarter-final and semi-finals, I was just really comfortable on the court, hitting the ball great." Johnson Acquah walked away with 300 dollars. Whilst runner-up, Lameck Bagerbaseh, took home 200 dollars.

In the women’s category, Benin’s Noudogbessi Rodia came first after winning all her round-robin games, with Ghana’s Tracy Ampah placing second after losing to Nousegbessi Rodia.

Caroline Mayou who spoke on behalf of her sister Sadia Mayou founder of InterRecruit said, we extended the competition to West Africa to give it an international dimension aimed at giving an educational scholarship and developing talents across the West Africa sub-region.

This year’s InterRecruit West Africa Tennis Open was sponsored by Michael Nortey Foundation, Egalite Sports Bar and Restaurant, George Darko Tennis Foundation, Fine Natural Mineral Water, PMsports, Emmanuel Mensah Tennis and Education Foundation, KDul Interco, Carathimas and Associates, Tennis Foundation Ghana and Ghana Tennis Federation.

Story: Gabriel Amoakoh

The Ghana Kickboxing Association will hold its annual Congress to elect new Executive for the next four years.

The Congress comes up on Saturday, January 27, 2024 at the Media Center of the Accra Sports Stadium from 8am

The contestants include incumbent President, Mr. Raja Owusu-Ansah who is being challenged by his former Vice President, Yakubu Abdul Razak aka ‘Commando’.

Mr. Steavano Kojo Tuekpe is vying for the Vice President position against Isaac Aikins, while the Treasurer position is between Samuel Nii Aryitey Mensah and Sakeyfio Winslow.

Seven people are contesting for the four slots for Executive Members. They include Isaac Kojo Frimpong Ansah, Wisdom Sallah, Stephen Akrong, Seth L. Mensah, Derrick Macaire, Joshua Tei Mensah and Wilfred Nii Ansah Annan.

The Ghana Kickboxing Association elections has suffered many hitches and Yours Truly prays for a successful event.

The delegates are drawn from 11 clubs/ gyms as well as the Coaches and Referees Committee.

Mr. Raja Owusu-Ansah who is the current President urged all delegates to be present and punctual.

He prayed for the best for Ghana Kickboxing.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

The 5-Day Olympic solidarity course for Ghanaian table tennis coaches has officially ended on a good note.

The course which attracted 30 coaches including Nigerians took place from 19th to 23rd January, 2024 at the University of Ghana sports directorate.

Aimed at equipping coaches with the requisite technical knowledge ahead of the upcoming African Games in March.

The course instructor from ITTF, Mohammed Atoum took the participants through some practical and theory sessions that focused on improving backhand and forehand loops, different forms of rally, movement among others.

They also engaged each other in various group discussions highlighting the vital concepts of developing, managing and promoting players across competitions.

In an interview with Mohammed Atoum, he acknowledged the inputs from all the participants.

Adding that, they exhibited exemplary qualities and leadership skills as coaches.

The ITTF instructor also expressed gratitude to the current administration of the Ghana Table Tennis Association, GTTA, for implementing such projects.

He again called for an extensive collaboration from all stakeholders to ensure successful implementation of table tennis projects ahead of the upcoming African games.

On his part, the Technical Director, Mr. Charles Tachie-Menson also stated that the course would urge the coaches to aspire for more.

He indicated that suitable measures and projects have been put in place to ensure coaches get the right understanding and technical knowledge.

Source Nicholas Akusah