Ghana wins bronze at Africa Para-tkd Open

Ghana’s para-taekwondo team returned home last Wednesday with a bronze medal at the just-ended Second African Para-Taekwondo Open Championships held in Kigali, Rwanda.

The championship, which took place between April 1 and 2, with Ghana’s Kubura Awudu winning the bronze medal,  brought together physically challenged people, specifically those with amputated arms, competing against opponents from other African countries.

The four-member Ghana team was led by the chairman of the Ghana Taekwondo Federation (GTF) Para-Taekwondo Committee, Lawrence Osei -Boateng, and included the coach, Adom Mensah Latse, and two male athletes Stephen  Kwasi Sansah and Azumah Salah Mohammed from Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions respectively,  while Kubura Awudu, the female athlete, was from the Greater Accra Region.

Mr Osei Boateng told the Graphic sports, that the athletes would do better in future competitions.

He said consdering the display of the athletes during the games, it was obvious that the lack of international competitions also had a toll on the athletes.

“Against all the difficulties, including the lack of per diem, inadequate residential training, the athletes still put in their best,” Mr Boateng noted.

He expressed the hope that another opportunity would avail itself so that the GTF would help in sending the team to part take in another international championship with the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, in mind.