Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia will on Friday, March 1, 2024, commission the University of Ghana Stadium for the African Games 2023.
The 20,000 capacity which has been completed to host the 13th edition of the multi-sport event will be centre of attraction for the field and track disciplines during the games.
About 13,000 athletes, officials, and volunteers from 54 African countries are expected in Accra for the two-week competition, and the commissioning of the venue signifies the final phase of preparations.
President Akufo-Addo about two weeks ago, commissioned the Borteyman Sports Complex, and his vice will commission the Legon Stadium.
On Wednesday, February 28, Ghana Athletics Association organised a national open championship to test the new equipment and tracks laid for the competition.
Ghana’s Black Satellites head coach Desmond Ofei says the team is progressing steadily with their preparations as they gear towards kick-starting the African games tournament in March.
The team pitched a three weeks camp at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram where the large majority of training coupled with other technical instructions have been imparted before they headed to Cape Coast for their final preparations.
The coach believes there is much at stake for the Black Satellites going into the tournament. However, he assures the boys can make Ghana proud if they stay focused.
“We’re in the final stages of preparation, everything is going smoothly,” said Ofei.
“Working in football is a lot of challenge but we must stay focused, because, we know what is at stake, this African game means a lot to us.”
The Black Satellites are drawn in group A alongside Benin, Congo and The Gambia for the 13th African Games Male Football competition. Ghana’s first game is on March 9 at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Ghana’s national boxing team, the Black Bombers will fly to Italy tonight for a Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifier.
President of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Federation, Bernard Quartey and a representative from the Sports Ministry will lead a delegation of six boxers for the tournament.
Samuel Takyi, who won bronze in the featherweight division at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, is expected to lead the Black Bombers. Takyi will be fighting in the light welterweight division.
The other members of the Black Bombers are Theophilius Kpakpo Allotey (flyweight division), Alfred Kotei (light middleweight), Jonathan Tetteh (light heavyweight) and Leicester born Mark Kojovi Ahondao (heavyweight).
Black Hitters pair of, Janet Ackah and Warrant Officer Anatu Mohammed will be competing in the flyweight and lightweight divisions respectively.
The boxers will be led by Coach Ofori Asare and his assistant Vincent Ackah Nettey assistant are also on the trip.
Meanwhile, a bantamweight boxer Dauda Fuseini, will not be making the trip after the Italian Embassy rejected his VISA application.
Mohammed was due to compete in the featherweight division but will not travel with the team after failing to provide his birth certificate.
The designated doctor of the team, A.S.P Edward Asante, has also been denied the VISA.
Ghana is still waiting for its first boxing slot for the Paris Olympic after 12 boxers failed to secure any at the qualifying tournament in Senegal last year.
The tournament in Italy, the first of boxing’s Olympic Qualifiers in 2024, will run from March 3 to March 11, 2024, in Bursto Arsizio, northern Italy.
The Black Bombers will be competing for six of the 49 slots on offer during the event, including 28 for men and 21 for women.
The next qualifying tournament for boxing will take place in Thailand from 26 May to 2 June.
Athletes and officials of participating countries have begun arriving in Ghana for the 13th African Games set to kick off in Accra this weekend.
On Wednesday, contingent from Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco touched down in Ghana with their first party of athletes and officials, mostly badminton players.
The badminton event starts on March 3, five clear days before the opening ceremony of the event on March 8.
Apart from the North Africans, Joy Sports has also confirmed that several other teams, mostly with their badminton players, arrived in the country in the late hours of Wednesday.
All of them have been checked into hotels as the Games’ Village has yet to open to the athletes.
The University of Ghana stadium venue manager for the African Games, Dr Bella Bello Bitugu says about two or three per cent of work is required before the facility will be fully operational.
Speaking to GSN24 Live, Dr Bitugu, who is also the sports director for the University stated that the facility is one of the best and the school is proud to host the rest of the continent.
“Almost every part of this facility is ready. The VIP, the Rugby pitch, and the lanes have been marked and certification is ongoing, maybe some two-three per cent of the work here to be done.
“We are ready as far as the sporting infrastructure is concerned and we are sure we will have every fully completed by the time the games start,” he said.
Ghana adopted a hybrid approach to the organisation of the games, building sporting facilities in Borteyman and completing the University of Ghana stadium as well as settling on the halls in the school to serve as the games village.
Dr Bello described the decision to use the country’s premier university as a special one.
“As the venue manager for the Legon Stadium, I will call it my baby. It started around 2003, and I remember stating that I would complete the stadium before I leave, lo and behold, I am completing it.
“That makes it special, that makes it really great. Look at the warm-up track, look at the stadium itself, what do we want again?
“Again, we have seen the light of day. People thought it wouldn’t happen, we were sceptical, where is the money, but we bulldozed through to have this facility.
“We started bit by bit, but we are finally here. It is also special, too, because this is the first time Ghana is hosting the African Games and we are going to have it on the campus of a University, special because it doesn’t usually happen.
“Mega events don’t usually happen on University campuses and special again because it’s the premier university, and special because this is a very determining stage in Ghana so it is special on many counts and we look forward to a very fantastic games,” he stated.
The University of Ghana will host about seven of the 29 sporting disciplines that would be happening during the African Games.
Ghana Athletics will organise a national open championship at the University of Ghana stadium on Wednesday, February 28, 2024.
The championship, is a pre-competition trial of the facility ahead of the African Games 2023.
It will last two hours, starting from 5 PM and ending at 7 PM to make way for the continuation of preparations and rehearsals for the opening ceremony of the event.
The Local Organising Committee (LOC), on Friday, February 23, handed the facility the opening ceremony team to fix their equipment prepare the ceremony slated for March 8, forcing Ghana Athletics to reschedule its National Invitational Students Athletics Championship (NISAC), which was slated for February 24 to 28.
The LOC, however, had to compromise as standard requirements from World Athletics makes it mandatory for the facilities to be tested before competitions begin.
With the athletics governing only likely to have access to the facility on March 10, 2024, they might not be able to organise any major event to test the tracks and equipment before the athletics competitions start on March 18.
Hence, the pre-competition event will be held on Wednesday without field events, per JoySports sources.
Meanwhile, the certification of the main stadium tracks for the games is expected to complete today, while the lane markings the warm up track will start on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports has cleared all bonuses owed the Black Queens ahead of their crucial qualifier against Zambia.
GSN 24 LIVE gathers the Ministry has now cleared all outstanding bonuses owed to the games from their previous three qualifiers.
The Black Queens had been owed bonuses for games against Benin, Rwanda and Namibia which were all played last year.
Ahead of the game against Zambia, there were reports of unrest in the team’s camp due to the unsettled bonuses.
The development also led to public outcry demanding payment for the Queens who have been on an excellent form since Nora Hauptle took over as head coach of the team.
The Sports Minister, Mustapha Ussif, Ghana FA President, Kurt Okraku and Gifty Oware-Mensah visited the team on Wednesday night to have a dialogue after which their per diems were paid before the bonuses were eventually paid.
They were issued cheques for GH₵85,000 each, the equivalent of $7,500 at the Bank of Ghana rate.
Ghana faces Zambia in the first-leg encounter on Friday, February 23.
The Black Queens are two ties away from a first-ever appearance at the Olympic Games with this year’s edition set for Paris, France
Osimhen was part of the Nigeria side who lost to Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations final in February and missed his side’s most recent league game through suspension.
The visitors had the brighter start with 16-year-old Lamine Yamal – who became the youngest player to feature in the Champions League knockout stage – making inroads on the right-hand side.
Xavi’s side pressed relentlessly in the final third, charging down Napoli’s attempts to build from the back and nullifying the hosts’ ability to threaten.
Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret was forced to save efforts from Yamal and Lewandowski before he reacted well to palm away an Ilkay Gundogan effort from distance.
The Italian side have severely struggled in their Serie A title defence, languishing in ninth place and trailing leaders Juventus by 27 points, and replaced Walter Mazzarri with Calzona – who is also Slovakia manager – on Tuesday.
There were few signs of immediate improvement, though, and they failed to even register a shot in the first half, a first for Napoli in the Champions League.
Osimhen tried to make runs behind the defence but was often left isolated as the hosts failed to muster moves in Barcelona’s half.
Xavi’s side, who have faltered in La Liga and are eight points behind leaders Real Madrid, were dominant for much of the match, but Napoli began to grow into the game in the second half and were more energetic after making substitutions.
Barcelona broke the deadlock through Lewandowski and were headed for victory, but the hosts eventually found their footing and fought their way back to a draw.
Twenty-one (21) players were present for the Black Queens’ second training session at the Accra Sports Stadium on Tuesday, February 20.
Nora Hauptle and her side continue to prepare for the first leg of their 2024 Olympic Games third-round qualifier which is set for Friday.
The 21 players who trained on Tuesday had Charlton Athletic’s Freda Ayisi available, Jacqueline Owusu of Real Sociedad was also involved with Linda Eshun also joining. The three players were missing from the first day of training.
Only goalkeeper Vivian Antwi Adjei and forward Gifty Assifuah, both of 1207 Antaly Spor, missed Tuesday’s session having arrived short before the team left for the Accra Sports Stadium.
The Black Queens are chasing a first-ever appearance at the Olympic Games and have had to beat Guinea and Benin en route to reaching the third round of the qualifying stage.
Kenya’s Sarah Chepchirchir has been handed an eight-year ban after the former Tokyo Marathon winner was found to have violated anti-doping regulations for a second time.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said the 39-year-old had returned an adverse analytical finding for testosterone in a sample collected at a marathon in Thailand in November.
Chepchirchir’s results will be disqualified from 5 November last year, with her ban backdated to 22 December.
She was previously banned for four years in 2019, backdated to 11 April 2018, because of abnormalities in her athlete blood passport.
Chepchirchir, who won the Tokyo Marathon in 2017, had the option to have her latest ban reduced by one year by formally admitting to the charge, but failed to do so by the AIU’s deadline of 11 February.
Last month the AIU banned Kenyan pair Hosea Kimeli Kisorio and Ayub Kiptum for three years, for use of recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) and testosterone respectively.
Meanwhile, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has referred Nigeria’s anti-doping agency to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over its alleged non-compliance.
The Nigerian body was sanctioned by Wada in November for failing to address “critical requirements”, but disputes Wada’s allegations.
Under Wada’s recommended punishments, Nigeria’s flag would not be flown at competitions and the West African nation would be ineligible to host major sporting events until reinstatement conditions were met.
