Sports in Ghana

Ghana is a country with a rich heritage in sports. Popular sporting events in the country include football, boxing, tennis, basketball, hockey, cricket, rugby, golf, and athletics[1]

Olympic sport

Ghanaian winter sports olympic team at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Olympic sport in Ghana began when Ghana first competed as Gold Coast in the 1952 Summer Olympics.

Ghanaian athletes have won a total of four Olympics medals in thirteen appearances at the Summer Olympics, three in boxing, and a bronze medal in association football, and thus became the first country on the Africa continent to win a medal at association football.[2]

2010 Winter Olympics

Ghana competed in the Winter Olympics for the first time in 2010. Ghana qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics with a score of 137.5 International Ski Federation points, within the qualifying range of 120-140 points.[3] Ghanaian skier, Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, nicknamed "The Snow Leopard", became the first Ghanaian to take part in the Winter Olympics, at the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, Canada,[4] taking part in the slalom skiing.[5]

Ghana finished 47th out of 102 participating nations, of whom 54 finished in the Alpine skiing slalom.[6][7] Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong broke on the international skiing circuit, being the second black African skier to do so.[8]

Boxing

Referee Celestino Ruiz raises the hand of newly crowned IBO International middleweight champion Osumanu Adama at UIC Pavilion.

The country has also produced several world-class boxers, including Azumah Nelson a three-time world champion, Nana Yaw Konadu also a three-time world champion, Ike Quartey, and Joshua Clottey.

Football

Black Stars squad (Ghanaian national football team) line-up prior to match of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Association football is administered by the Ghana Football Association and the national men's football team is known as the Black Stars, with the under-20 team known as the Black Satellites. Ghana has participated in many championships, including the African Cup of Nations with 4 titles, the FIFA World Cup three times, (2006, 2010, and 2014), and the FIFA U-20 World Cup with 1 title. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Ghana became the third African country to reach the quarter-final stage of the World Cup after Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002.[9] Ghana national U-20 football team, known as the Black Satellites, is considered to be the feeder team for the Ghana national football team. Ghana is the first and only country on the Africa continent to be crowned FIFA U-20 World Cup Champions and two-time runner up in 1993 and 2001. The Ghana national U-17 football team, known as the Black Starlets, are two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup champions in 1991 and 1995, two-time runners up in 1993 and 1997.

Ghanaian football teams Asante Kotoko SC and Accra Hearts of Oak SC are the 5th and 9th best football teams on the Africa continent and have won a total of five Africa continental association football and Confederation of African Football trophies; Ghanaian football club Asante Kotoko SC has been crowned two-time CAF Champions League winners in 1970, 1983 and five-time CAF Champions League runners up, and Ghanaian football club Accra Hearts of Oak SC has been crowned 2000 CAF Champions League winner and two-time CAF Champions League runners up, 2001 CAF Super Cup champions and 2004 CAF Confederation Cup champions.[10] The International Federation of Football History and Statistics crowned Asante Kotoko SC as the African club of the 20th century.[10] There are several club football teams in Ghana that play in the Ghana Premier League and Division One League, both administered by the Ghana Football Association.

Criticism

In the past, Ghana's sports authorities have often cut the funding for many sports disciplines in order to ever increase the funds available to its football (soccer) programs. Because of this decision, several sports events on the African continent such as the African Games have seen limited Ghanaian participation.[11]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Sports in Ghana. a.com.
  2. ↑ "Ghana clinging to Olympic dream". BBC News. 8 April 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "Base Camp Sponsored Ghanaian skier Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong has qualified for 2010 Olympics". 0-21 Snowboarding. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  4. ↑ Dutta, Kunal (22 October 2009). "Forget Eric the Eel... meet the Snow Leopard". The Independent. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, Alpine Skiing". Vancouver, 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  6. ↑ Men's Slalom - Run 2, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games official website. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "Men's Slalom". Vancouver, 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  8. ↑ Chris Wilson (3 February 2010). "Ghana's first winter Olympian gears up for Vancouver Games". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "USA 1–2 Ghana (aet)". NEWS.BBC.co.uk. 26 June 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
  10. 1 2 "Africa's club of the Century". IFFHS official website. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  11. ↑ Ghana Basketball Association - Ghana government fails to support Ghana Women's Team in Mali, Sportingpulse.com, 24 September 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2016.

External links

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