Most national athletes of Ghana are in favour of the re-election of Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah as President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC).

In a survey conducted prior to the Elective Congress tentatively scheduled for March 15, 2021, it was discovered that almost all athletes, especially footballers, boxers, weight lifters, volleyball players, badminton players, hockey players, swimmers, judokas, karatekas, cyclists, disabled athletes want the incumbent to stay and continue his good works.

They claim he has done very well than his predecessor and they do not want Ghana Sports to be derailed or go backwards.

Christian Amoah and Winnifred Ntumi, both national weight lifters say Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah is a great motivator who has helped them to keep on performing in their discipline, and could have stopped if it was not his support and encouragement.

“He has children, but he takes good care of us, we can’t afford to lose him” said Ntumi.

Samuel Takyi, one of the two boxers who has qualified to represent Ghana at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games said “Mr. Nunoo Mensah is my new godfather as he helps me a lot, even on my birthday, he made me and my family happy. I think the delegates must vote for him. He is a very good man”.

Eben Amuzu, a sports journalist at Hot FM and Ashiaman TV said the works of Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah speaks a lot for him as he has chalked many successes and has a positive dream for Ghana Sports.

He expressed that under the tenure of his reign, Ghana has seen the real benefits from and of the GOC. He noted that securing sponsorship is not easy, but Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah has been able to get support for sports federations and has been able to secure the Amasaman land for the construction of an OlympiAfrica Sports facility for Ghanaian youth and kids.

“I admire his leadership style, because he is affable, transparent, accountable, loving and wants everyone to be part of the system, so he attached journalists to various sports federations to promote the lesser known sports” he stressed.

Victor Agyemang of Alliance Media Plus said the GOC President is an idealistic leader who commands dignity and respect.

He advised delegates to voted massively for Mr, Ben Nunoo Mensah for the betterment of Ghana Sports.

President of the Women In Sports Association (WISA) Madam Gloria Commodore who is a member of SWAG said she admires the leadership style of Ben Nunoo Mensah and urged all delegates to vote for him.

Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah has also ensured that sports journalists are attached to various Ghanaian Sports contingents to international events like the Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Youth Games, Youth Olympic Games, African Games, African Youth Games and African Beach (SAL) Games.

The President of the Badminton Association of Ghana, Mr. Evans Yeboah has also boldly come out to declare that Ben Nunoo Mensah deserves another term to complete  the development and completion of projects he initiated like the continuation with facilities like a tennis court and multi purpose sports hall at the Amasaman OlympiAfrica Sports Complex site which was left unattended to for many years.

Yeboah who is second vice president of the GOC said in their first term under his leadership, they have been able to link up with the IOC and ANOCA as well as OlympiAfrica which has accepted Ghana back to its fold, The also have very positive relations with the Ministry of Youth & Sports and the National Sports Authority (NSA).

Many sports other federation heads like Mr, Melvin Brown of the Ghana Karate Association, Mr. George Lamptey of the Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF) and Lawyer Jerry Ahmed Shaib, CEO of CODA and executive of the Ghana Weightlifting Federation (GWF) have acknowledged his vision, dynamism and dedicated service to Ghana Sports also says he expects a landslide victory for Ben Nunoo Mensah.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Ghanaian international coach Moses Cofie has signed a new deal with a Togolese giants A.S.Port FC.

The details of the contract were not disclosed, however Coach Cofie who won laurels like the FA Cup and League in Burkina Faso with Rahimo FC  says he is glad and hopes to take his new club to greater heights.

He is a former striker of Accra Hearts of Oak, Accra Great Olympics and Liberty Professionals. He also had coaching experience in Sudan.

He believes West African players have talent and will make his players happy by turning them into stars and super stars.

He is of the view that local stars need to make the CHAN tournament organised by CAF more attractive and congratulated West African reps, Mali and eventual winners Morocco as well as hosts, Cameroun for staging a successful tournament despite the Covid -19 pandemic.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Black Stars and Arsenal Midfielder, Thomas Partey could be facing some time on the sidelines once again after he picked up an injury in the team’s 1-0 loss to Aston Villa on Saturday.

The 27-year old who has completed 90 minutes only four times since moving to the Premier League limped off 16 minutes from time after suffering what appeared to be a recurrence of the thigh injury which kept him out of action for more than a month from early December.

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta confirmed the extent of the injury after the game.

“He had a muscular issue so we had to take him off,” Arteta confirmed. “He could not carry on playing. We will see the extent of the injury. He wasn’t feeling well enough to continue playing so we had to take him off.”

The Gunners are 10th in the table after 23 games, and have now not won in the league in three games.

Partey has so far made 10 appearances for Arsenal since joining last year.

Former Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo has joined Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab from Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua.

Ighalo, who spent the last year on loan at the English Premier League side, was unveiled by the Riyadh-based team in a video posted on the club’s social media channels.

The Nigeria international had been due to return to Shanghai at the end of the loan deal, which had been extended by United for a further six months after he impressed during his initial spell with Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer’s side.

He is the latest high-profile foreigner to leave the Chinese Super League following the departure of Brazilian striker Hulk from Shanghai SIPG and coach Rafa Benitez from Dalian Pro.

The 31-year-old joins an Al Shabab side that already features former Sevilla and Argentina midfielder Ever Banega on their books and who currently lead the 16-team Saudi Premier League.

The Black Starlets of Ghana have jetted off to Morocco for a training and development program as part of the Ghana FA’s strategy to ensure transitional development of the young players.

The U17 side will engage their Moroccan counterparts in a training tourney within a six day period.

A 36-man contingent including 22 players, 10 technical staff, 2 management members and two media persons left Accra on Saturday morning for the trip and are expected to return to Ghana on the 12th of February

Ghana will take on the Atlas Lions in a 3-game encounter within the period as the technical handlers keep shaping the side for the future.

Sergio Piernas’ side have qualified for the U17 AFCON by virtue of being hosts and do not want to leave any stone unturned in their bid to host and win.

Ghana failed to qualify for the U17 AFCON after being kicked out of the WAFU Zone B U17 Tournament which serves as the qualification phase for the AFCON.

Despite not qualifying for the U17 AFCON, the Ghana Football Association is determined to keep the team together for a proper development and transition into the U20 and other senior national teams.

The team is expected to return to Ghana on the 12th of February.

Footballmadeinghana

Pro Fighting Factory Gym and Promotions on Friday presented boxing equipment to the Wisdom Boxing Gym in Accra.

The items presented by Nii Adote Dzata 1, former President of the Kickboxing Association on behalf of Swiss based Lawrence Nyanyo Nmai include punching bags, gloves and pads.

Receiving the items, Coach Ofori Asare who is renovating his facility expressed gratitude for the donation and prayed for the source and emissaries. He urged others to emulate the gesture and support Ghana Boxing.

Present at the short but impressive ceremony was Yours Truly, Vice President of the Pro Fighting Factory and Naa Amerley Turkson, Assistant Trainer at the Wisdom Gym. Michael Amanor  Cecil Teiko Stanley and Isaac Doku, Manager and Coach and Communications Director respectively at Pro Fighting Factory

By Sammy Heywood Okine

President of the Ghana Olympic Committee GOC, Ben Nunoo Mensah has emphasized the need to invest in athletes, so that they feel motivated to get medals as he looks forward to the minister designate to do that important duty. 

He explained that we can't just build facilities which would be used by athletes and don't invest in the athletes but expect them to win medals at African games, commonwealth and Olympics games even though Hon Asiamah has done well getting us those facilities-

He said his administration has spend over millions of dollars on federations going for qualifiers-

According to Ben Nunoo Mensah, he used three years to get documents of 16 acres of land at Amasaman and very soon ANOCA will start build a Hall and tennis court fund by ANOCA.

Meanwhile, President Ben Nunoo Mensah who loves to speak on positive and real achievement has declared his intentions to seek another 4 years as leader of the GOC.

GOC Communications

Asante Kotoko's 2020-21 Ghana Premier League (GPL) Week 14 and 15 fixtures have been postponed indefinitely, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) have announced.

The much-anticipated Matchday 14 encounter between the two biggest clubs in the country has been postponed due to the Porcupines’ continental engagement.

Asante Kotoko will play the Algerian side on Sunday, 14 February 2021 in Accra before they travel to Setif for the 2nd leg one week later.

As a result, the match between Asante Kotoko and rivals Hearts of Oak as well as King Faisal versus Asante Kotoko have been rescheduled.

Asante Kotoko's match day 14 tie against Hearts of Oak will now come off on Sunday, February 28, 2021 at the Accra sports stadium.

Meanwhile, the Week 15 clash against King Faisal take place on Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at the Ohene Ameyaw park in Techiman.   

WAFA SC duo Forson Amankwah and Daniel Owusu have joined Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg on permanent deals,

The two players landed in Salzburg in midweek to start their as foreign-based professionals.

Amankwah, a midfielder, had trial with the Austrian champions last February and convinced the technical team about his credentials.

He was a key member of the Academy side in this year's Ghana Premier League and was named Man of the Match in their opening 4-3 win over King Faisal.

Owusu, a striker, scored his first goal of the season two weeks ago in the 1-1 draw at Ebusua Dwarfs.

In 2018, he was adjudged Most Valuable Player at the Next Generation Trophy which was hosted by Red Bull Salzburg.

He scored three goals to help WAFA win the tournament.

It is unknown if Amankwah and Owusu will be loaned out to other Austrian clubs or registered by Red Bull's feeder club FC Liefering who play in the second-tier league.

WAFA have sold some of their best talents like Samuel Tetteh, Gideon Mensah, Majeed Ashimeru-to Red Bull Salzburg.

GHANASoccernet.com

Jojo Awinongya Jr. vs Darnell Timms on Saturday

A title belt is at stake on Saturday, February 6, 2021 in Philadelphia, USA when Ghanaian born Joseph Awinongya Jr. fights Darnell Timms.

“They are fighting for a belt in Philadelphia  this Saturday on the 6^th February, 2021, and this is another opportunity to win another belt” said coach / Dad of Jojo. It will be on Facebook Live.

By Sammy Heywood Okine