The stage is set for the Special Boxing Day Rumble at the newly opened Idrowhyt Events Centre at Dansoman on Saturday, December, 26, 2020.

The weigh in was successfully held today, Friday 25th December 2020 at the venue of the event with the President of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA), Mr. Peter Zwennes in attendance. Also present was the General Secretary, Patrick Johnson, Communications Director, Sammy Heywood Okine and experienced ring official Mr. J. A. Annan.

President of the GBA, Mr. Peter Zwennes commended the collaboration of promoters as a very positive business plan in this times when it is very difficult to organize bouts.

The said the team up of Cabic, Aborigines and Box Office should be highly recommended and copied by other promoters.

He also appealed to the media, especially TV stations to be involved in the boxing business.

According to Peter Zwenness, the Idrowhyt Events Centre is a unique and serene facility that would be an exciting venue to organize boxing bouts.

He stated that Covid-19 took Ghana Boxing to the ropes and nearly known out the GBA, but they survived and fought back in style to be able to sanction other fight in the month of December, 2020

Mr. Ellis Quaye, a director of Cabic Promotions hinted that there would be neither fans nor supporters, however, a few patrons and special guests would watch from the terrace. He said government is backing them to put up a splendid programme, and all Covid-19 protocols would be observed, with tight security.

On the day of the weigh in, former world champion, Joseph King Kong Agbeko was hailed for adding value to the promotion, and inspiring young boxers.

Fighting as a super flyweight, he weighed 116 pounds while his opponent, Commey weighed 117 pounds.

Former WBO Africa Super Welterweight champion Patrick Allotey weighed 155 pounds while Victus Kemavor weighed 143 pounds.

Emmanuel Quaye stood at 158 pounds while Roland Ansah was 157 pounds for the Super Welterweight contest.

Heavyweight boxer on the bill Ishmael Djan of Black Panthers weighed 250 pounds as his opponent, Richard Ashong of Akotoku Academy scaled at 220 pounds.

One bout that is expected to be a thriller is Yussif Seidu 131.4 pounds versus Joshua Owusu 131 pounds in a Super Featherweight fray.

Michael Pappoe from Bukom and other rising boxers will feature on the bill.

By Naa Amerley Commey / Sammy Heywood Okine

Midfielder Samira Suleman has been named Player of the Season and Top Scorer by her Icelandic side UMF Sindri.

The Ghana international was also named in the Team of the Season in the Women's League.

Samira named seven goals in 14 goals during the season and was unanimously chosen by the club's technical team as their best player.

The 29-year-old has been playing in Iceland since 2015.

Samira posted on her Instagram account: ''I'm grateful to Allah and everyone at Sindri football club for this wonderful award especially my teammates, technical team and the amazing supporters. MVP, GoalQueen, Best11 2020.''

The Dunkwa-On-Offin born also runs the Samira Suleman Foundation.

Ghana soccernet

Ever since Kwan Pa, the palm wine music group busted on the Ghanaian entertainment landscape, they have been souring higher and becoming bigger as well as most popular.

During the Christmas festive period their rendition of popular Christmas carols in the palm wine highlife vein have been popular and played across a lot of radio stations in the country.

For the past few years, their name has been synonymous with Christmas, because they have their own ways and means of getting Carols sound better and clearer.

Founded a few years ago, they found it difficult to break through and be accepted, but now Kwan Pa is a multiple award winning band.

Now with the able support of Wahala Entertainment, Kwan Pa is a household name and everybody wants to have a piece of their delicious and fantastic sound.

They are the group that can spice your party, wedding, outdooring and even funerals because they are capable of making the sad very happy.

The four – man group believes in the assertion that Africa has a very rich music culture which is worth flaunting to the world.

The all-male group started with five members from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, but one had to drop out due to work schedule.

The remaining four are Frederick Agbexoasi Minamor (kpanlogo drums and vocals), Kojo Baah Isaac (shekere, dawuta and vocals), Bismark Kwabena Safo (gome and vocals) and the leader Andrew Nkansah Asah (guitar and vocals) — all instrumentalists from the Presbyterian Church, Ebenezer Congregation, Mamprobi, Accra.

The dynamic young men who sing and perform with instruments such as the Seperewa (Harp-lute), Frikyiwa (castanet), Dawuta (Twin bell), Shekere (big rattle), Gome (square bass drum), Kpanlogo drums and the Acoustic guitar are a delight to watch.

They are a resident band at Zen Garden, and entertain guests and patrons every Tuesday and special occasions.

Kwan Pa have created a new trend and made it their own genre which is a blend of Ghanaian and western elements infused into music.

Their first is ‘Felix Cannot Dance’, which was directed by Wahala Entertainment. The song also featured the winners of ‘Di Asa’ and superstar bloggers Emmanuel Appiah and Samuel Appiah who also shot the video while acting as Felix.

The song is a completely different local rendition of the famous Christmas carol ‘Feliz Navida’.

Wahala Entertainment has put Kwan Pa on a different pedestal and they have released albums including ‘Music from Africa’.

Kwan Pa believes in the assertion that Africa has a very rich music culture which is worth flaunting to the world. We believe that African music is never outdated or perhaps irrelevant as some people may perceive it to be.

Never miss an opportunity to watch them perform, and this can be done every Tuesday at the Zen Garden at Labone in Accra.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

John Laryea aka ‘Expensive Boxer’ was on Wednesday night crowned the new National Featherweight Champion of Ghana after defeating Kamaradeen Boyefio of Charles Quartey Foundation Gym at the Seconds Out Gym in Accra.

Laryea who is trained by Coach Carl Lokko of the Bronx Gym won on a round 3 TKO.

The 20yr old featherweight John "Expensive Boxer" Laryea (8-0-1) has promised to go for the African and Commonwealth titles before thinking about the world titles as he wants to become a great experienced and expensive champion.

Dan Selasie Gosh who made a pro debut won on a round 2 TKO against James Nortey.

Other boxers who won on the night were Kpakpo Allotey, Jacob Dickson, and Felix Ajom all of the Bronx Gym.

Osumanu Haruna met Ibrahim Marshall for the National Heavyweight title, while Iddrisu Kalu also faced Mawuli Ofolivi for the National Middleweight belt. In the epic national heavyweight fight 40yr old Haruna Osumanu (12-1, 8 KO's) had a KO victory over 44yr old Ibrahim Marshall (13-11-1).

Super featherweight Patrick "The Mallet" Okine (21-4-2, 18 KO's) also won by a round 2 KO victory.

Super middleweight Stephen Abbey (16-18) with the MD-8 upset had victory over Delali Miledzi (14-1) to hand Miledzi his first loss - Miledzi struggled with a closed eye halfway through the bout. Official scores 78-75, 76-76 & 78-73.

All the bouts were interesting, and the few boxing fans who were ar the venue complied with all the health and safety protocols.

New Champion, John Laryea said on his Facebook page “I give thanks to God Almighty for this wonderful gift in my career to be crowned National Featherweight Champion of Ghana .To my Manager Samuel Anim Addo my Coach Lawrence Lokko , my fans all over the world , thank you all for your support.

A special one to my Superstar bro @mathewcudjoe16 , Thank you for the winning Jersey & Congratulations on you WAFU. U20 Success”.

For Gosh, his long time trainer Lokko said “another chapter as been Open, Great talent in all STANDARD Daniel Selasi Gorsh”

He thanked Leslie Brown of L & B Boxing Management and Samuel Anim Addo for their support.

Sammy Heywood Okine

Ghanaian sports Journalists who habitually write or talk about boxing have commended the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) for battling and surviving the fight against the Corona virus aka Covid-19.

After 10 months of no professional boxing bouts in Ghana, the boxing body has been able to support some promoters to come up with exciting bouts to climax the season.

The promoters and boxing gyms namely; Fight Ready Promotions, Errol Hawk Management, Seconds Out Gym, Bronx Gym, Wisdom Gym, Ace Power Promotions, Box Office Promotions, Cabic Promotions and Aborigines Promotions have all contributed to the survival and revival of professional boxing in the country.

Ben Neequaye of the Graphic Sports said he was impressed as all the safety and health protocols were observed in the very first post Covid-19 bill at the Seconds Out Gym on December 17, 2020. The night exposed USA Born Ghanaian boxer Eslih Owusu who is coached by Okoe Odamtten, trainer of former WBA Welterweight champion, Ike Bazooka Quartey.

The second promotion at the same venue was on December 23, 2020 which saw the crowing of John Laryea of Bronx Gym, the Expensive Boxer as the new National Featherweight Champion.

The third promotion by Ace Power takes place at the Ga Mashie Hall of the Trust Sports Emporium on December 24, 2020, and Prince Dornu-Leiku, a sports journalist has been involved in the organization. He said it had not been easy, but at the long run, they had a smooth sailing.

Gideon ‘Jingles’ Ohiadzo, the marketing coordinator of Cabic Promotions says they have complied with all the health and safety measures and promise an interesting night on Boxing Day December 26, at the Idrowhyt Events Centre.

Alex Ntiamoah – Boakye of Box Office who is supporting many boxers to get in shape, and not get rusty said the boxers need to survive and they have succeeded in the fight against Covid -19.

Nii Nettey, a reporter at BoxingGhana who was Ring Announcer / MC in the two shows at Seconds Out Gym commended the boxers, coaches, officials and the few fans for their discipline and comportment in applying all the safety restrictions.

Mr. Patrick Johnson, General Secretary of the GBA and Yours Truly, the Communications Director also commends the media, especially the sports portals and television stations supporting Ghana Boxing.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Renowned TV anchor Nana Aba Anamoah has donated various items to ‘Wonder Club’Accra Great Olympics following their sensational start to the season.

Nana Aba stormed the training grounds of the ‘Wonder Club’ on Tuesday to make the presentation to the playing body.

The items include several bags of rice, bottles of drinks and water.

Accra Great Olympics took to their official Twitter handle and announced the presentation by the Diva.

"Like the wise men from the east, top fan @thenanaaba

"came by our training grounds with gold, frankincense and myrrh.

"She added rice and boxes of water too. Christmas treeHugging face".

Nana Aba Anamoah reacted to Gt. Olympics tweet by wishing the team Merry Christmas.

The news anchor of GHOne TV has associated herself with Great Olympics for some time now.

It would be recalled that she was appointed the club's head of marketing, sponsorship and branding in 2018 and is currently a member of the management team of the ‘Dade Boys’

Meanwhile Accra Great Olympics are in the form of their life this season, having won three, drawn one and lost one in six games and have a game in hand.

They have won back to back games: defeated Asante Kotoko in an outstanding game on Thursday, before edging WAFA on Sunday.

They have been tending on social media for a while now.

Accra Great Olympics have another test on their hand on Thursday 23rd December, 2020 the Accra Sports Stadium as they take on Ebusua Dwarfs in another outstanding league game.

From Naa Amerley Commey

MTN Ghana’s People Management practices has received recognition at the third Africa Human Resources Innovation Award held in Accra. MTN carried the day by winning six prestigious awards which was also the highest to be received by any nominee at the event.

The awards received were; HR Innovation of the Year, HR Team of the Year (Gold), Outstanding Employee Retention Policy and Employer of the Year.

The awards were in recognition of MTN’s excellent HR practices and models, innovation and resilience in the HR space and many initiatives employed by MTN especially in this challenging year.

The Human Resources Executive of MTN Ghana, Amma Benneh-Amponsah received two personality awards for her Outstanding Contribution to HR Industry. She was also named among the Africa Top 50 HR Leaders.

Receiving the awards, the Human Resources Executive, Amma Benneh-Amponsah expressed her appreciation to the organizers for the recognition.

She said, “recognition is very important especially in in a very unusual year.   The awards received will urge MTN Ghana to prioritize continuous improvement in people management that translates into improved products and services for our cherished customers.”

“There hasn’t been a better time for HR practitioners to make a difference and we need to take the leadership in our respective organizations towards making the shifts required to sustain businesses, protect jobs and sustain employee engagement in the workplace”

Answering the question on what MTN did differently to win the highest awards for the day, Amma said,” MTN is a feedback and insight driven organization and both internal and external initiatives are people and customer driven.  A focus on the customer both internal and external has enabled MTN to be productive, efficient and effective in serving its people and customers during this difficult time.”

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana Mr. Selorm Adadevoh congratulated the HR Executive and her team for her leadership in ensuring MTN continues to practice and employ best HR practices. “He said “Today, majority of MTN employees are working from home and work is going on. Kudos to Amma for the great leadership skills in developing and implementing policies that contributes to the success of the business. A big congratulations to the HR Team for the collaboration and the sterling performance.”

The Africa Human Resources Innovation Awards formerly Ghana Human Resources Innovation Awards is an annual celebration of leading Human Resource Practitioners and organizations with Top-notch HR models who have made sterling contributions to the corporate sector over the years. MTN has picked many awards since its participation.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

 Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah, President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) has advised featherweight boxer, Samuel Takyi to be focused on his mission to win an Olympic Gold medal for Ghana.

At a special meeting with the budding boxer to celebrate his 20^th birthday, the President showered him with some gifts for the yuletide and urged him to train harder than ever so that he can make himself, his family and the nation proud.

Samuel Takyi aka ‘Ring Warrior’ defeated the African number one Morocco and two from Uganda at the Olympic Qualifier in Dakar, Senegal which was his first trip outside Ghana and he exceled.

Though he was unknown and not rated, he surprised all with his marvelous talent and won the bronze to qualify to Tokyo after losing to the African number 4 from Zambia, in the semi finals.

He expressed that he has learnt a lot in the international amateur system, and hopes to beat every opposition to grab the ultimate in his next tournament.

“I am maturing and learning a lot from my coaches and people who advise me like the GOC President. I am very happy on my birthday, and glad to celebrate with him. I am going for the ultimate in Tokyo, which is the gold” he said.

Mt. Ben Nunoo Mensah hinted that preparation is key and important in addition to the zeal to win. He promised that efforts are being made for the Black Bombers to train in Cuba before the 2020 Olympic Games.

He tipped the boxers and weight lifters as medal prospects for Ghana.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

Members of the Ghana Olympic Committee,

Representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Authority,

National Federation Heads and Representatives,

Members of the media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you all very much for making the time to come meet again to discuss our passion, “sports” and the best way to move it to the next level.

We had initially planned to have this session in April or May of 2020 but as you all know the Covid pandemic and its resultant lock down and restrictions did not make it possible for us to do so, even holding it now has its challenges, a few of our members have expressed their misgiving about an in-person meeting, but our democratic system allows the majority to carry the day. I will however appeal to all of you to keep your mask on and observe the necessary Covid protocols.

ADMINISTRATION

The various communication channels and administrative structures created in the first year of our administration has enhanced administrative efficiency at the GOC.  Also the quest to ensure that an elective change at the GOC/CGA is no longer seen as a coup d’état (as it has been in the past) has encouraged the staff of the GOC/CGA to become less partisan and more professional in their work. 

I will still encourage them to continue to give their loyalty to the GOC/CGA as an institution, irrespective of who the elected officers or board members are at a given time, and not to be partisan in our elections.

INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC)

The GOC continues to enjoy an extremely good relationship with the IOC, whose support to our National Federations (NFs), athletes and coaches through the Olympic Solidarity programme has been tremendous.

We will continue to build on that relationship to maximise their overall support to the development of sports in Ghana.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES FEDERATION (CGF)

The CGF has been very supportive of the CGA during the year under review, the employment of an intern for the CGA to help with marketing and various training programmes for our NFs and media attaché, has helped to create the necessary mileage and exposure for some of our NFs.

The recent workshop on the use of Social Media as a Branding Tool for our NFs was powered by the CGF.

ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEES IN AFRICA (ANOCA)

ANOCA’s huge financial supports to us and our various NFs have more often than not been the last hope for most federations to be able to go to their International championships and qualifiers.

ANOCA’s recent grant of about $90,000.00 enabled our NFs and teams like Meteors (football), Rugby, Fencing, Weightlifting, Taekwondo, Boxing, Athletics, Swimming, Table Tennis, Badminton and many others to show up at their various Olympic qualifying events.

TOKYO 2020

The Corona pandemic did not make it possible to host the games in July, 2020 as originally proposed, the games will now be held from 23rd July, 2021 to the 8th August, 2021. The GOC together with the Ghana Embassy in Japan has secured a Pre-Games camping base for Team Ghana in the city of Inawashiro in Japan.

We have so far qualified 4 athletes, 2 from Boxing and 2 from Athletics. In addition to more athletes qualifying from these two disciplines, we are also hoping to secure qualification slots from Weightlifting, Swimming, Volley, Badminton and Judo.

It is the hope of the GOC that we should be able to raise enough funding from our sponsors and partners to ensure a hitch-free preparation for and participation at the games. Our current projected budget of about $360,000.00 dollars is far from being achieved and I will like to take the opportunity to appeal to corporate institutions like GCB, NLA, BOST, Ghana Gas, GNPC, Twellium Industries, Toyota, Ashfoam, JAYKAY Industries, Samsung and many others who have the development of the Ghanaian youth at heart, to come on board and support our various sporting disciplines and events like the Tokyo 2020.

One of the greatest black athletes of all times, Asafa Powel from Jamaica has agreed to visit Ghana in the middle of February, 2021 to help the GOC create the necessary awareness and hype on the games and ginger support for Team Ghana. Asafa is related to me and Ghana by marriage and will also take the opportunity to touch base with the motherland.

CAPACITY BUILDING

The GOC/CGA has embarked on an aggressive capacity building agenda for our coaches, administrators, media attaché and NF members. Unfortunately, our various technical courses for 2020 had to be rescheduled to 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.

In the spirit of building capacity for various persons involve in sports development, my administration adopted a strategy to ensure that as many Federation executives, administrators and media persons are selected as officers for different International games and championships, that is why for Bahamas 2017 we had Messrs Mawuko Afadzinu (Tennis), Theo Edzie (Swimming) and Benedict Owusu (Joy fm) as the selected officials. For the Winter Olympic Games in Korea in 2018 we had Hon. Jerry Shaib (Special Olympics) as CDM and George Addo (Scrabbles) to assist.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games in Goldcoast had Messrs Mohammed Sohnoon as CDM, with other assisting officers as Messrs Cilian Welsh (Shooting), Melvin Brown (Karate Do), Nana Mankata (Sports for all), Dennis Moore(Cycling) and Ken Adade as the media person.

The 2018 African Youth Games in Algeria had Mr. Albert Frimpong (Baseball) as CDM, Mr. Fred Otu (Taekwondo) as leader of delegation, with Nana Mankata as Team Manager and Mr. Isaac Worlanyo (Rainbow fm) as media attaché.

For the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Messrs Evan Yeboah (Badminton), Isaac Duah (Tennis) and Nana Mankata (Sports for all) were the officers with Mrs. Baaba Tandoh (Multi Media Group) as the media attaché.

The 2019 African Beach Games in Cape Verde had Messrs Steve Asante Bekoe (Rowing), Yaw Ampofo Ankrah (Beach Soccer) as the selected officers and Mr. Michael Okuley (GTV) as the accompanying media person.

Rev. Richmond Quarcoe (Squash), Emmanuel Tuffuor, Melom Brown (Karate Do) and Nana Mankata (Sports for all) were the CDM, DCDM, Head of security and TM respectively at the 2019 African Games in Morocco whilst Mr. Gabriel Obu (Zylofone fm) was the accompanying media attaché.

Tokyo 2020 will have Messrs Mike Aggrey(Golf), Mohammed Mahadi(Fencing), Jones Nfodzo and Melvin Brown(Karate Do) as officers with Messrs Sammy Heywood Okine, Theo Sampah (GTV), Romeo Oduro (Peace) and Maurice Quansah (Graphic) as media persons.

This is also my personal way of ensuring that the few opportunities that exist at the GOC/CGA are shared (without any discrimination) by as many people as possible and not just a few.

We intend to build capacity for as many members as possible, so these persons can impact knowledge and help with any future games organisation in the country.

SUPPORT FOR NATIONAL FEDERATIONS (NFs)

One of the key focus of my administration is, giving financial assistance to the various NFs. In 2019/2020 the GOC gave to the various NFs a total of $126,716.00 to help with their qualifiers and or as Development Grants.

The breakdown is as follows;

• Ghana Football Association -        $  8,000.00
• Ghana Fencing Association -        $  5,943.00
• Ghana Badminton Association - $  7,540.00
• Ghana Shooting -        $  3,000.00
• Ghana Rugby -        $  8,000.00
• Ghana Taekwondo -        $31,443.00
• Ghana Cycling -        $  5,930.00
• Ghana Karate Do -        $  4,930.00
• Ghana Weightlifting -        $  8,000.00
• Amateur Boxing -        $14,800.00
• Women Commission -        $     430.00
• Ghana Squash -        $     910.00
• Women in Sports -        $     910.00
• Rowing and Canoeing -        $     930.00
• Ghana Baseball -        $     950.00
• Ghana Swimming Association - $  5,000.00
• Ghana Volleyball -        $  5,000.00
• Ghana Table Tennis Federation -        $  5,000.00
• Ghana Athletics Association -        $10,000.00

These financial supports to the NFs have made it possible for some of their athletes to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

SUPPORT TO NATIONAL TEAM ATHLETES

The GOC currently has 14 National team athletes on the GOC/IOC Scholarship programme; this will ensure some financial support to these athletes all the way to the end of the Olympics in Tokyo.

The breakdown per disciplines for the 2019 and 2020 financial year are;

• 7 Athletes from Ghana Athletics with a total scholarship of $90,000.00
• 3 Athletes from Ghana Boxing with a total scholarship of $30,000.00
• 2 Athletes from Ghana Weightlifting with a total scholarship of $30,000.00
• 1 Athlete from Ghana Judo with a scholarship of $15,000.00
• 1 Athlete from Ghana Shooting with a scholarship of $15,000.00

The GOC also initiated and facilitated the payment of monthly allowance of Ȼ500.00 to 1,500 National Team athletes under the MOYS/YEA financial support scheme.

These financial support and Scholarship have enabled our National Team athletes to focus and have funding for their competitions and upkeep.

WOMEN’S COMMISSION

As a major requirement by the IOC, the GOC inaugurated a Women’s Commission chaired by Ms. Elizabeth King, to champion issues on gender equality and the development of girls and women in sports.

The commission has a membership which cuts across all the various women groupings in the country and it is the hope of the GOC that its impact will begin to be felt at all levels of our society.

OLYMPAFRICA PROJECT (AMASAMAN)

The biggest drawback to our development of the Amasaman (now known as Afiaman) project is Ownership of the Land, even though we managed to construct a wall around the said land, we never really had any legal rights or title to the land. Our ownership had only existed by word of mouth, the allocation of the land to us by the Ministry of Agriculture was deem to be illegal since they had no right to give out government land and making it worse, there was no single letter to the GOC from the Ministry on the transaction. But colleagues today, it is with a lot of joy that I wish to inform you that the Government of Ghana through its custodian of government lands in Ghana, the Lands commission has by a letter of 23rd October, 2020 (and its accompanying site plan) allocated 16.574 acre of the parcel of land at Amasaman in Greater Accra to the Ghana Olympic Committee for the purpose of Sports and Recreation.

I wish to thank His Excellency the Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, the Honorable Minister for Youth and Sports, Mr. Isaac Asiamah, the Late Chief Director at the MOYS, Mr. Frank Quist, The Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, Alhaji Sulemana Mahama, Board members, Hon. Jerry Shaib and Nii Adote Din Barima and last but definitely not the least, Hon. B.T Baba, the past President of the GOC, whose vision to construct a huge Stadium-like wall around the land even without any ownership documents, helped in the land being finally allocated to the GOC.

We have notified the IOC and the OlympAfrica Foundation, who have now agreed to allocate $150,000.00 in its 2021 budget for investment into the Amasaman Centre.

CONCLUSION

On behalf of the Executive Board, the officers and various sub committees of the GOC, I wish to thank members of congress for contributing in no small way to make the GOC what it is today. We will continue to work hard together and ensure that our tenure will see a lot of landmark achievements for our youth and for our sports.

Thank you.

Mr. Ben Nunoo-Mensah, the President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) has accounted for $126,716.00 used to support National Federations’ 2020 Olympic qualifications and other developmental activities in 2019/2020.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday at the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Pitch, Mr. Nunoo-Mensah said, the monies given the Federations were to assist its activities financially.

In his address, he said “One of the key focus of my administration is giving financial assistance to the various National Federations. In 2019/2020 the GOC gave to the various Federations a total of $126,716.00 to help with their qualifiers and or as Development Grants.

According to the President’s Report, the GOC supported the Ghana Football Association with $8,000 and with the Ghana Fencing Association received $5,943 while the Badminton Association of Ghana got $7,540. Ghana Shooting Association had $3,000 with Ghana Taekwondo Federation also getting $31,443 and Ghana Rugby also getting $8,000.

An amount of $5,930 was given to the Ghana Cycling Federation while $4,930 was given to the Ghana Karate-Do Federation while Ghana Weightlifting Federation had $8,000 with Amateur Boxing getting $14,800. The Women Commission also received $430 while Ghana Squash Association had $910.

Women in Sports was supported with a total of $910 while Rowing and Canoeing was also supported with $930 and Ghana Baseball supported at $950. Ghana Swimming Association, Ghana Volleyball Association, and the Ghana Table Tennis Association all received $5000 each with Ghana Athletics Association getting $10,000.

According to the President, the financial supports to the Federations made it possible for some of their athletes to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games rescheduled for 2021 due to the global pandemic, Coronavirus.

Also, the GOC currently has 14 National team athletes on the GOC/IOC Scholarship programme which would ensure some financial support through the athletes’ Olympic qualification to the end of the Games in Tokyo.

The breakdown per disciplines for the 2019 and 2020 financial year are seven Athletes from Ghana Athletics with a total scholarship of $90,000.00, three Athletes from Ghana Boxing with $30,000.00, two Athletes from Ghana Weightlifting received $30,000.00, one Athlete from Ghana Judo took $15,000.00 and an Athlete from Ghana Shooting with a scholarship of $15,000.00.

GNA