Coach Asare exposes GBF for dropping Allotey
Black Bombers coach, Kwasi Ofori Asare, is livid about the omission of Theophilus Kpakpo Allotey from the upcoming Birmingham Commonwealth Games at the instance of the Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF).
Coach Asare revealed that he included 20-year-old Allotey in his nine-member team to represent Ghana at the Games.
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“I was not the only person who seconded his name; the entire GBF, including the president and the vice also, endorsed him,” he revealed to the Graphic Sports in an exclusive interview in Accra last Thursday.
He said he was, therefore, astounded when he realised that the 51kg weight category boxer’s name had been replaced with one Samuel Yaw Addo in the final list for the Games.
“When I enquired from the president of the GBF, Mr Bernard Quartey, he told me it was an anomaly and that they will rectify it so I believed what he said because we all selected Kpakpo Allotey to join the eight others to the Games,” he stated.
Coach Asare stated that his hands were clean and he knew nothing about what was going on.
“The nine boxers who were approved by the entire GBF are Theophilus Kpakpo Allotey (51kg), Abraham Mensah (54kg), Joseph Commey (57kg), Wahib Omar (63.5kg), Jessie Lartey (67kg), Alfred Kotey (71kg), Abubakari Quartey (75kg), Shakul Samed (80kg) and Ornella Sathoud (75kg),” he disclosed.
He, therefore, called on the media to be circumspect in their reportage and seek the truth.
A fortnight ago, former International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight champion Joseph ‘King Kong’ Agbeko criticised the leadership of the Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF) for trying to influence the selection of boxers into the Black Bombers for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham next month.
Agbeko told the Graphic Sports that the amateur boxing body must rescind its controversial decision to axe Theophilus Allotey from the national team despite winning gold at the individual championship used to select a team for the July 28 to August 8 Games.
The former world champion believed that Allotey remained one of Ghana’s sure bets to win a medal in Birmingham if he was allowed to participate in the competition.
Allotey is said to have been replaced by Yaw Addo on the nine-member Black Bombers team, with sources close to the GBF saying that the latter was preferred due to experience.
These things [interference in team selection] must stop in this modern era and I believe we need to reward hard work as a country to eliminate such practices.
