Taekwondo: Ghana excel in Togo
Ghana won one gold, a silver and a bronze in the annual Open De Kpogan Taekwondo Championship in Lome, Togo over the weekend.
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According to reports, Ghana’s trio of Navinda Abban (73kg), Salomey Borketey (67kg) and Delali Alife (54kg) defeated their opponents in the fin-flyweight, bantam-featherweight and light-welterweight to scoop the gold, silver and bronze respectively.
Team Ghana was represented by the Greater Accra taekwondo team with sponsorship from Master Norbert Amefu, chairman of the Greater Accra Taekwondo Association (GATA), who also led the team to the four -nation tournament.
A contingent of 14, made up of six officials and eight taekwondo fighters, made the trip to Lome, in the two- day tournament which attracted 97 participants from various taekwondo clubs in Togo, Niger, Ghana and Burkina Faso.
The competition adopted the Olympic weight format that combined two weight divisions namely, the fin-fly weight, bantam-featherweight, light-welterweight and middle-heavyweight.
Amefu, former national star, told the Graphic Sports the tournament exposed the athletes to international taekwondo competitions such as the one they just participated in.
He expressed satisfaction about the performance of the fighters but cautioned that more work needed to be done in terms of further training to smoothen the rough edges.
Mr Amefu charged Ghanaian sports administrators to desist from depending on the state alone for support, but explore other areas, such as sponsorship, for the development of sports in the country.
