Amadu Mohammed claimed a dominant first round victory over Eriu Temakau of Kiribati in men’s 55 kg (bantamweight) boxing on Sunday morning to give Ghana a first victory in any sport at the 2026 Commonwealth Games ongoing in Glasgow, Scotland.
The 21-year-old Accra 2023 African Games gold medal winner was exceptional in the opening seconds of the round of 16 clash at the SEC Hall 5, landing a plethora of well-calculated punches which left his opponent with no answers.
With Sports Minister Kofi Iddie Adams, Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) President Richard Kofi Akpokavie, Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF) President Dauda Fuseni, Team Ghana Chef De Mission Ernest Danso and executives of both GOC and GBF watching in the stands, Mohammed’s dominance forced a mandatory standing count by the Polish referee against Temakau less than 50 seconds in.
The Ghanaian’s relentless pressure and solid defence paid off decisively after the referee stopped the contest at one minute, six seconds in the opening round, following another standing count with Temakau totally outclassed and failing to land any punch of his own.
It gave Mohammed his first-ever Commonwealth Games victory by Referee Stopped Contest (RSC) at 1:06 minutes of round one, qualification to the quarter final and one victory away from the medal zone.
Waiting for the Ghanaian in the last 8 showdown on Tuesday is Ellis Trowbridge of England, who saw off Rukmal Prasanna of Sri Lanka via a dominant 4-0 rout immediately after Mohammed’s fight. The 24-year-old Englishman had earlier on Friday stopped Ricksen Nomleas of Vanuatu in round one in the round of 32.
Ghana’s boxing competition continues later this evening when Nancy Bamfo takes on Nicole Clyde of Northern Ireland and Adelaide Djabatey battles Jasmine Daunakamakama in women’s 54 kg and 57 kg respectively for a place in the quarter finals.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s poor run in swimming continued as Ivan Snowden and Unilez Takyi both failed to advance in their respective events.
Snowden recorded 31.63s in men’s 50m breaststroke, well short of his personal best (30.61s) to place 49th out of 58 swimmers, while Takyi clocked 1:00.94s in women’s 100m freestyle, finishing 43rd overall out of 64 who competed.
The duo will still have opportunities for redemption when Takyi competes in the 50m freestyle on Tuesday before teaming up with Snowden, Abeku Jackson and Nubia Adjei for a crack at the mixed medley later same day.
