Team Ghana arrived at the Kotoka International Airport at exactly 11am on Sunday after two weeks of the 2015 All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville.
In the end, the country’s medal haul matched that of 2011. Just like in that edition of the Games, Ghana took part in 16 disciplines.
Opinion is split on whether it was a failed mission or a decent performance primarily due to the widely-publicised poor preps Team Ghana had.
The best preps would have been a residential camping for the entire contingent, but it did not happen due to a well-publicised lack of resources.
Ghana copped 19 medals. But perhaps, because two golds were won this year, as opposed to one four years ago, the success is marginal.
“If we had access to residential camping, we’d have won far more. But per the preps we had, this is a very good medal haul,” Saka Acquaye, chef de mission (or the head) of Team Ghana.
As they say, hindsight is 20/20 so we’d never know.
But here is what we do know here at #JoySports: the breakdown of how team Ghana has fared so far at the continental multi-sport event.
Pole Vault: 1 medal – silver
Jordan Yamoah (above, pictured) grabbed silver in Pole Vault on his debut for Ghana, with a 5.30m attempt. His feat was impressive because with a week to go to the Games, the Ghana Athletics Association had not gained access to his pole. And he was not even sure if he could make it to Brazzaville. But his class shone through, and his ranking as the second in Africa is definitely no fluke.
Beach Volleyball: no medal
This was one sport that Ghana had real hopes in. The peculiar thing about the sport is that only two players can be presented by a country for the whole tournament. And in Ghana’s case, the best players are Edward Seidu Ajanako and Evans Lomotey.
These two won bronze in 2011, at a time when the association was just six months old.
Sadly, this time, Lomotey – who is an Air Force officer – had to be away on UN peacekeeping duty in Liberia. As a result, Ghana’s challange was not as solid because a third choice player, who was not as exposed as the two, was taken.
Ghana began by winning their two most difficult games, only to lose, shockingly, to Tunisia. Many watchers put the loss down to a loss of concentration.
Football: 1 medal – Gold
The Black Meteors failed to defend their title after lame performances against Nigeria and Senegal in the saw them exit. A stalemate with the Terranga Lions and a 0-2 loss to Nigeria’s dream team was not enough to see them go through.
The Technical Director of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Francis Oti Akenten has attributed the Black Meteors disastrous campaign at the All African Games to poor preparations ahead of the tournament.
“Preparation ahead of the All Africa Games was not enough for the team. To assemble home based players for a tournament, you need to keep them together for a very long time which the Black Meteors did not get,” he said.
He went on: “The competitive and keen nature of the just ended league prevented many clubs from releasing their players amid fears of relegation at the end of the season.”
But the Black Queens won a historic gold medal, after winning silver in 2011. The women drew Cameroon and South Africa in the group stages, but luckily scraped through after lots were drawn.
After that, it was all gutsy, as they went on to beat Ivory Coast in the semi-final and Portia Boakye’s late volley brought the gold against Cameroon. It was the second meeting between the pair in the competition, with the first ending 1-1 in the group stage.
Fencing: no medal
Relatively new competition that Ghana participated in and lost 18-45 to South Africa to exit the competition.
Badminton: no medal
Team Ghana lost out in the badminton team event after failing to progress to the semi-final after losing 1-3 to Mauritius. Ghana’s three badminton medal hopefuls – Daniel Sam, Emmanuel Donkor and Abraham Aryeetey – all failed to progress to the semi of their individual competitions after losing out to Nigerian, Egyptian and Ugandan opponents.
Weightlifting: no medal
Another key area for Ghana was in this category.
At the 2013 African Weightlifting Championship, the country performed very well while the Commonwealth Games last year showed Ghana’s athletes to be very promising, especially under the guidance of Professor Dr. Carl Pearce, an American coach.
Team Ghana’s weightlifting contingent also, for the first time, had two foreign-based athletes in Forester Osei (UK-based) and 17-year old Abigail Obodai (Italy).
Volleyball: no medal
They were doing decently well in the West African sub-region but struggled on the continental stage.
Another peculiar problem has to do with motivational politics. Because most of them are members of Security Services Sports Association (SESSA), who are known to give good per diems and other rewards, these athletes are reluctant to feature for the national team that is notorious for not paying up – just like in many other disciplines.
In fact, we know that the bonuses for the 2012 ECOWAS Games, in which Ghana sensationally won gold across many events, have still not been paid. That’s why many good athletes have opted for peacekeeping rather than featuring for the national teams.
So, here’s what happened at the Games.
At the Henry Ellendy Gymnasium in Brazzaville, the male Black Spikers won their first match, beating Rwanda 3-1. Then they won their third match 3-0 against Cape Verde to stand a chance of qualifying to the medal zone. That’s where the campaign ended, after other teams did better in the group.
Their female counterparts lost 1-3 to Senegal and failed to prevail against Seychelles and Algeria. That ended the quest to reach the semis.
But analysts of the sport felt no shock at this lack of medals, due to the aforementioned problems.
Tennis: 1 medal – Gold
Not suprised at the win, but before they left Ghana, not many tipped tennis to deliver a gold.
However, it must be said that the tennis federation had probably the best preps of all the 16 disciplines due to the continued access to tournaments in the country such as the McDan Open and the Top 8.
Narh Adjago Wisdom and George Darko (above, pictured) managed Team Ghana’s first gold medal in the men’s tennis doubles final after they beat DR Congo in two sets, 6-4, 6-4.
Darko is currently Ghana’s top-ranked player.
Swimming: no medal
Jackson Kwesi Abbiw, Richard Asante Yeboah and Natasha Emefa Addah crashed out in the 100m freestyle men and 50m breast stroke women heats to abruptly end Ghana’s adventure in the sport. It was supposed to be one of the country’s hopeful events.
Boxing: 1 medal – bronze
This was a serious underachievement, considering Ghana’s boxing pedigree.
Omar Wahid won his preliminary 56kg bantamweight bout against an Equatorial Guinea opponent to progress to the next stage. However, favourite and medal hopeful Jesse Lartey exited the first round after losing to his opponent from Mauritius in their 52kg flyweight contest while Anane Kudzodzi also lost to a Malian fighter in the 75kg middleweight bout.
Ghana’s first medal was won by David Bawa despite losing to Mauritians in the heavyweight division. David Bawa qualified for a bronze medal by virtue of being in the top four.
A continuing problem is the alarming rate at which the country’s amateur boxers turn pro, meaning that some of the best cannot take part in these Games.
Athletics: 6 medals – 3 bronze, 3 silver
Ghana’s team is made up of mostly foreign-based athletes.
Nadia Eke set a new national record of 13.40m in the women triple jump to annex Bronze. In the Women’s 4x100m relay, Ghana won silver in a time of 43.72s. No surprise there, considering they were ranked Africa’s number two before the Games.
Flings Owusu Agyapong, Gemma Acheampong, Beatrice Gyaman and Janet Amponsah – ranked five in Africa – came second to a Nigeria side that had star names like Olympic medalist Blessing Okagbare.
Another silver medal came from Mary Zuta in the women’s Javelin throw event. Zutah who threw a weak 44.69m with her fifth effort but still came second.
Julia Agawu (above) clinched bronze in the discus throw with 49.08m.
The men’s 4×100 relay team made up of Emmanuel Dasor, Daniel Gyasi, Agbeko Shepard and Afful Solomon grabbed bronze.
Decathlete Atsu Nyamadi – ranked second in Africa before the Games – led after three events with 2342 points. In the end, though, he won silver following a fourth-placed finish in 100m, winning the long jump with 7.27m and coming second in shot put with a 13.46m attempt.
Nyamadi was pipped to gold by Mauritian Efeluen Nguema.
Table Tennis: 1 medal – Bronze
The pair of Derrick Abrefa and Felix Lartey despite losing 0-3 to Nigeria in the semi finals also won bronze.
Para Sports: 3 medals – Silver
For many years, the name that has come to mind in Para Sports is Ajara Mohammed Busanga. Her credentials are well known and she is the only woman to have ever won the topmost Sports Writers Association of Ghana award – the SWAG Sports Personality of the Year.
That was in 2012 after her exploits at the 2011 All Africa Games where she won two golds. Before then, she’d won medals at All Africa Games in 2003 (Abuja) and 2007 (Algeria).
But this year, she could not go because the organisers said they could not register enough female competitors (five or more) in her T54 category. Reports say only three athletes from across Africa registered, meaning the event did not come off.
However, the male competition took place.
Patrick Obeng won silver in the Men’s T54 800M finals with a time of 1:52.56s. Botso Nkegbe won also got silver in the T54 100m after Tunisia copped gold.
Obeng picked another silver in the men’s T54 1500m race.
Here’s a handy infographic of the medalists and events they won in.
About the Games
The 16-day competition started on September 4, with 54 countries participating in 22 events.
Team Ghana departed with two aircraft ferrying a 350-member contingent, and after a lot of problems, settled and began a slow charge toward a 19-medal haul.
Ghana departed Accra with the aim of bettering their previous performance in 2011.
That year, though Ghana had 19 medals, only 17 were captured on the medal table at the close of the Games, thereby placing Ghana in 12th position.
Ghana still hasn’t managed to beat the 25 medals from Algeria 2007.
