The Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) have lauded Team Ghana on its stellar performance at the 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Team Ghana won five medals at the Commonwealth Games.
Ghana won three medals in boxing with Abraham Mensah claiming silver in the bantamweight division, Joseph Commey grabbing silver in the featherweight division and Abdul Wahid Omar earning a bronze medal in the lightweight division.
Female athlete Deborah Acquah won bronze in the women’s long jump, leaping an impressive 6.94metres and Joseph Paul Amoah won bronze in the 200 metres.
A statement signed by the SWAG President, Kwabena Yeboah asserted that despite the scant support offered the athletes before the Commonwealth Games, Ghana’s “long-suffering athletes, as usual, went through great sacrifices to hoist the flag of Ghana on the international stage”.
“We at SWAG are truly proud of your achievements amidst very limited support from officialdom. Undoubtedly, you will scale greater heights with meaningful state backing,” the statement emphasised.
SWAG urged the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Sports Authority (NSA), the Ministry of Finance and indeed all allied agencies to offer Ghanaian sportsmen and sportswomen the support required to excel at the 2023 Africa Games.
“The nations that hauled gold at the Commonwealth Games invested enormous resources in infrastructure and personnel. Their success story is not hinged on luck nor mere wishes. If Ghana has any intentions of a triumphant Africa Games, significant resources would have to be invested now,” the statement said.
“We find it unconscionable that so much demand is made of our sportsmen and sportswomen on the global stage when we invest very little or nothing towards their preparations. The Africa Games are barely a year from now and the time to invest is now,”.
SWAG also lamented the disqualification of Ghana’s men’s 4×100 relay team as well as boxer Shakur Samed for using a banned substance and called for a thorough investigation into the incident.
“It’s such a shame our gold hopefuls who had spent years preparing for this once in a life-time opportunity should suffer such ignominy through no fault of theirs. We expect a rigorous and exhaustive investigation into this matter to ensure it does not recur,” the statement emphasized.
” A comprehensive investigation into the matter will help our sportsmen and sportswomen avoid such embarrassing situations”.
“SWAG also wish Joseph Commey who failed to fight for gold in the featherweight division because of sudden illness well as he recuperates”.
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