Ghanaian giants, Medeama SC have completed the signing of former Hearts of Oak defender Vincent Atinga, Modernghana Sports can officially report.

The Tarkwa-based club in the past couple of weeks has been looking at strengthening their squad for the second round of the 2020/021 Ghana Premier League season.

On the back of fruitful talks with Vincent Atinga, that club has managed to secure his signature on a reported one-and-a-half-year deal.

The highly-rated defender in 2017 left Hearts of Oak to join Albanian giants KF Tirana.

After impressing in the league, he attracted interest from a host of clubs and subsequently joined Kuwait's top-flight club Al Qadsia.

Vincent Atinga, 27, last played for Al-Shabab in Kuwait before returning to Ghana earlier this year.

He will be expected to play a big role in defense for Medeama SC when the second round of the Ghana Premier League season commences later this month.

Albert Kyei Frimpong was born to carrier diplomat dad and so he was exposed to many parts of the continent and world from childhood. During their stay in Zaire now Congo DR he was introduced to the game of baseball for the first time in his life as well as saw real poverty and deprivation in that part of the world.

He has been involved in the promotion and development of sports in Ghana for over three decades. He is the founder and initiator of baseball and softball in Ghana as far back as 1988. He played, captained and managed the national Baseball team of Ghana (Rising Stars) from 1993 to 2003 and has been its president since 2010.

He has played a major role in the development and promotion of Baseball and Softball in Africa. Most countries on the continent have called and still call on him many times for his expertise and wise council for their development.

He is the founder and initiator Ghana Baseball and Softball, He has been a very respectable member of all past and current ABSA (Africa Baseball and Softball Association). Many see him as one of the potential people to lead African Baseball and Softball.

He has been and continues to be a great asset to sports, youth and countries in Africa and beyond. He is very popular in Japan since he made his debut on Japan TV in 1998 where he featured in the very famous TV Documentary called the Unbelievable.

This was a documentary about Baseball players from Ghana, Africa showcasing their skills in Ghana and also in Japan. He trained with the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in japan in 1998. Then some other teams in within Tokyo.

In 2001 he took two Ghanaian players to Japan to try out for the MLB teams like  the Anaheim Angels etc.

He is a leading member of the African Baseball and Softball Association (ABSA) A member of the Technical Commission of WBSC Africa.

He is the head of West Africa Baseball and Softball. A very respected member of the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSC), Member at large of the Francophone Baseball and Softball Association (AFBS),

The founder and initiator of Skate soccer in Ghana and which is fast spreading

Globally and Co-founder of Beach soccer in Ghana as well as Executive board member of the Ghana Olympic Committee.

Past member of the finance committee of the Ghana Olympic committee, until recently the Chef De Mission for the Ghanaian team to the Africa Youth Games in Algeria 2018 for, Ghana.

He is also the co-founder and CEO of the International Federation of Skate Soccer, IFSS. For the past fourteen years he has been in the forefront of promoting  SKATESOCCER for the physically challenged POLIO victims and this has made  him feature many times on CNN , BBC ,GERMAN,FIFA TV ,China TV and all local TV stations in Ghana and all over social media.

He has been fully involved in the promotion, development, welfare and support

of the under privileged through sports, entrepreneurial and health support.

He has over the past four decades dedicated his life to the promotion of sports

and its development for all manner of people both able bodied and physically

challenged ,poor and rich.

Albert is a dedicated, disciplined, hardworking and selfless individual. His

dedication and passion he puts into everything he does is so admirable,

From Sammy Heywood Okine

MTN Ghana has introduced  features on the MyMTN App that give subscribers additional bonus bundles.

Customers who use the myMTN App to purchase bundles for friends and family will receive 25% bonus on the bundles they send on their own account. The bonus package applies to both prepaid and post-paid Customers. For prepaid customers the 25% data applies to standard data bundles, social media bundles and video bundles whereas postpaid customers get to enjoy the 25% bonus on the prepaid data bundles they purchase on the app.

MTN customers also get to enjoy bonus on ‘MusicTime’ on Mashup bundles. With a purchase of Mashup bundles of GHS10 or above for self or others, subscribers will enjoy 300mins free music streaming on MusicTime App available for Android users only.

“We have had to augment the offerings on myMTN App to enhance user experience and also enable our Customers fully enjoy the benefits of a modern connected life”. The new features will encourage people to share data and also gain more time to enjoy entertainment content,” Dario Bianchi, Digital Transformation Lead of MTN Ghana said.

MyMTN is a self-service app that allows an MTN Customer to manage their account and perform services such as “top-up airtime”, purchase data bundles, manage broadband accounts and transact using MTN MoMo wallet. Also, Customers have an easy to use app for everything MTN and they will not have to memorize a wide range of USSD codes for various services.  New features are added to the app every month to improve the digital experience of all MTN Customers.

MTN Customers can download myMTN app from the Play Store and App Store by searching for myMTN Ghana. The App currently has over half a million active monthly users. Google play store rating is at 4.1stars.

“MusicTime” is a time-based music streaming service that gives users access to premium top trending African and international music on their phones.

MTN has themed 2021 as ‘The Year of the Customer: The Digital Experience’. As a result, the company continues to introduce packages aimed at making access to digital services more convenient for customers. Digital services available on MTN include: ayoba, Showmax and MTN Pulse.  Customers should visit www.mtn.com.gh  for more information.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Project Soliver a non-governmental organisation, last Saturday donated equipment to the Ghana Tennis Federation.

The presented items which comprised of tennis shoes, tennis bags, tennis rackets and over 5000 tennis balls.

This is the third time Project Soliver is donating to Ghana tennis to help revive the sporting spirit in the country.

“We are thrilled to be in a position to donate this equipment to the GTF and to raise the profile of Ghana tennis, encouraging youngsters to be become involved and start playing more tennis, appreciating this fantastic sport and who knows? Maybe the next superstar will be from Ghana" said secretary of Project SOLIVER Henry Odartey on behalf of the CEO Solomon Koomson and Vice Oliver  Baltzer

He added that, "we again say thank you to all concerned and everybody who attended today and we want to also use this opportunity to thank Michael Grossgasteiger, Gerhard Nenning and Kostic Bojan for their continuous support."

The president of Ghana Tennis Federation Isaac Aboagye Duah after receiving the tennis equipment said, "we thank Project Soliver for the kind gesture."

He added that, "the items will be shared to regional clubs and foundations."

Story: Gabriel Amoakoh

The President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr. Kurt Okraku has called on the government for continued support for sports to help the national teams win more trophies.

The leader of the country’s football governing body on Tuesday led a delegation made up of the Ghana U-20 CAF U-20 AFCON winning team to present the trophy to the President at the Jubilee House.

Taking his turn to deliver a speech, Mr. Okraku promised that the trophy will be the first of many to come.

To achieve that though, the Ghana FA boss called for more support from the president while revealing that his administration wants to put Ghana at the apex of world football.

“Mr. President, our appearance here, is to give you a small taste of what the future holds for Ghana football. And our belief is that with the right level of support that we received on the journey to Benin and to Mauritania, this is just the tip of the iceberg and Ghana will bring back the love, Ghana will win more trophies, Ghana will be at the apex of not only African football but world football,” Mr. Kurt Okraku said.

Later this month, the Black Stars of Ghana will play against South Africa and Sao Tome & Principe in the chase to secure qualification to the 2022 AFCON.

The GFA will hope to count on the regular support of the government to push on the team.

Modernghana

Olympic champion Thomas Bach has been re-elected for an additional four-year term as President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). At the 137th IOC Session held virtually today, the 67-year-old German received 93 yes and 1 no votes from the 94 valid votes.

Thomas Bach, who won gold in with the German foil fencing team at the Olympic Games Montreal 1976, was elected as IOC President at the IOC Session in 2013 in Buenos Aires for a first eight-year term. This term will finish on the closing day of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on 8 August this year, as decided by the IOC Executive Board. His second term as IOC President will start immediately after, and will conclude in 2025.

“Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for this overwhelming vote of confidence and trust. For me, this is even more overwhelming considering the many reforms and the many difficult decisions we had to take, which affected all of us,” said President Bach after the election. “You know that this touches me deeply. It also makes me humble. When you elected me for the first time as your President in 2013 in Buenos Aires, I said that I wanted to lead the IOC according to my campaign motto ‘Unity in diversity’ and be a President for all of you and for all our stakeholders. This commitment is also true for my second and last term. My door, my ears and my heart remain open for each and every one of you. I hope that I can count on your continued dedication, support and friendship also during these four more years.”

As an athlete, Thomas Bach was a world-class fencer, winning the Olympic gold medal, but also two gold medals with the German foil fencing team at the World Championships in Montreal in 1976 and in Buenos Aires in 1977. He was a founding member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission in 1981, on which he remained until 1988. In 1991, he became an IOC Member and sat on the IOC Executive Board between 1996 and 2013. He served as IOC Vice-President from 2000 to 2004, 2006 to 2010 and from 2010 until his election as IOC President in September 2013.

During his first period in office as IOC President, he initiated the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms for the future of the IOC and the Olympic Movement that were adopted at the IOC Session in Monaco in 2014. Just before his election today, the IOC Session approved the Closing Report of Olympic Agenda 2020 unanimously. Olympic Agenda 2020 has profoundly changed the Olympic Games, the IOC and Olympic Movement.

The IOC Executive Board has already proposed the successor to Olympic Agenda 2020 – Olympic Agenda 2020+5 – which will be discussed by the IOC Session on Friday this week. It consists of 15 recommendations inspired by five key trends, designed to pave the way to build on these solid foundations and carry Olympic Agenda forward into the future.

In his acceptance speech addressing the IOC Members, President Bach said: “In the meantime, you know me well enough that I would also like to look forward and continue to achieve ambitious goals with you also in the post-coronavirus world. We learned during this coronavirus crisis, the hard way, that we can live up to our Olympic slogan ‘faster, higher, stronger’, in sport and in life, only if we are working together in solidarity. Therefore, I would today like to inspire a discussion – a discussion with you and everybody interested in the Olympic community – on whether we should not complement this slogan by adding, after a hyphen, the word ‘together’: ‘Faster, higher, stronger – together’. This could be – from my point of view – a strong commitment to our core value of solidarity, and an appropriate and a humble adaptation to the challenges of this new world.”

During his presidency, Thomas Bach received the prestigious Seoul Peace Prize, in October last year – a prize which he said belonged to the entire IOC and the whole of the Olympic Movement. Without the support of so many around the globe, the achievements for peace through sport could never have been accomplished, he stressed. In 2019, he was awarded the Cem - Papandreou Peace Award in Athens. This award is given to individuals and groups who have made “an outstanding contribution to peace”.

Source - IOC

GTV Sports Plus will host top Jamaican athlete, Asafa Powell on Friday evening to share his experience as an international sportsman on a special show on Ghana’s preparations towards the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Powell is married to a Ghanaian wife, who relates the GOC President, Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah and he wishes to see Team Ghana shine at the world’s biggest sports festival.

He was supposed to visit Ghana, but due to health and safety circumstances caused by the Covid- 19 pandemic, he had to reschedule his plans.

Also featuring on the programme are Samuel Takyi and Suleman Tetteh, the two boxers who have qualified to the Games in Japan and Black Bombers coach Ofori Asare who was at the 2012, 2016 and will be at the 2020 Games.

The Chef Du Mission for Team Ghana, Mr. Michael Aggrey, President of Ghana Golf Association, President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) and Ben Nunoo Mensah will also be on the programme as well as the Ghana’s Ambassador to Japan and other former Olympians.

The programme is put together by the Communications  Committee of the GOC in collaboration with GTV Sports Plus.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

The 2021 edition of the GNPC Ghana Fastest Human competition starts at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium on Saturday March, 20, 2021.

The second competition will be held at the University of Ghana, Legon for the Accra Edition on Saturday April 10, and the third scheduled for the Paa Joe Stadium (KNUST) on Saturday May 31, 2021.

The competition is for males and females under 18 and over 18 sprinters. At stake is President Nana Akufo Addo’s cup.

The 100 meters dash race which intends to unearth top sprinters for Ghana is sponsored by GNPC, Adidas, GCB, Kriate Lync, Wrenco and Global Media Alliance.

Former Ghana sprinter, Reks Brobbey who represented Ghana at the Olympic Games is the brain behind the competition. He is also deputy chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2032 African Games.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Mr. George Lamptey of the Airport Security who doubles as the President of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Federation (GABF) has disclosed his readiness to serve on the Executive Board of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC).

The Ghana Olympic Committee Congress is scheduled for March 15, 2021.

He said he needs to be on the board to seek the interests of boxing and other least financed sports.

According to Lamptey, boxing has given Ghana more medals at the Olympic Games out of the four, namely Silver by Ike Quartey Snr. in 1960, Bronze by Eddie Blay in 1964  and another Bronze by Prince Amartey in 1972.

He boasted that the current four qualified athletes to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games include two boxers, Samuel Takyi and Suleman Tetteh who are determined to reach the medal zone.

George Lamptey, a product of the University of Ghana, Legon who has also been with the local people in James Town, Bukom, Chorkor and Mamprobi says he understands the plight of talents who lack finance to shine.

He promised to bring unity onto the board, and support positive decisions that will put Ghana Sports high.

He also promised to seek support to bring some international boxing courses to Ghana as many officials cannot afford the travel risks and expenses.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has promised that his government will support the hosting and organization of the 2023 African Games.

A land has been secured by government at Borteyman for the construction of a multi-purpose stadium to aid in the organization of the tournament.

Speaking at his first State of the Nation Address since his re-election as President, Nana Addo emphasized that his government will work with the Local Organizing Committee [LOC] to ensure the Games are held successfully.

“Mr Speaker in 2018, Ghana won the bid to host and organize the 2023 African Games for the first time since the tournament started in 1965,” President Akufo-Addo said

"A nine local member committee has been constituted for the inaugural and events aspects of the 2023 African Games.

“Government intends to provide maximum support for the LOC to help ensure that we organize and host the successful games.”

Last week Thursday, the President met members of the LOC led by Dr Kwaku Ofosu-Asare, the Executive Chairman, and Mustapha Ussif, the new Minister of Youth and Sports at the Jubilee House to update him on the progress of work.