President of the African Paralympic Committee and Ghana Paralympic Association, Samson Deen, has expressed confidence in Ghana’s paralympic team to make a statement at the upcoming 2023 All African Games and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.
His comments come on the back of the paralympic team’s exploits at the just ended 2022 Cairo African Open Championship where Ghana clinched 14 medals in total.
In the women’s category, Ghana’s Patricia Nyamekye set a new world record in the 67kg category. Her lift of 91kg is the new African/World Record in the Youth and New Generation category and positions her to make a qualifying mark for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Emmanuel Nii Tettey Oku also won two silver medals and two gold in the 72kg of the men’s category.
In the other category, Tahiru Haruna, following his suspension for flouting COVID-19 rules in Manchester 2021 and hence not making it to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, came back strongly to win a silver and bronze medal in the African/World category event of up to 107kg, with a lift of 205kg.
Prince Nyarko and Abdulai Abubakar are the para powerlifting team coaches who led the contingent to victory in Egypt.
Ghana sent four athletes to the championship; one female and three males.
Patricia Nyamekye who had two gold medals.
Isaac Obeng recorded his first ever appearance and placed fourth but qualified for Paralympic Games, Paris 2024, with a lift of 170kg.
Emmanuel Nii Tettey Oku had the best of lifts in the entire competition with a gold medal awarded to him in the African Championship with a lift of 176kg in the up to 76kg category event. He was again awarded two silver medals for placing second in the World event.
Speaking at the medals’ presentation to the Minster for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, Samson Deen expressed optimism in the para-athletes to continue to hoist the flag of Ghana high in their upcoming assignments.
“We in the paralympic family are most grateful to the minister and his ministry for this support they have given us,” he remarked.
“We will still come back and ask for more because 2023, Ghana is hosting the African Para Games and this is the first time a paralympic team has gone outside Ghana and won 14 medals. I am very hopeful that with this continuous support, we are going to make a great mark in Paris 2024,” Mr Deen projected.
Ghana is set to host the 13th edition of the African Games in 2023 commencing on August 4, and will now combine the event with the African Paralympic Games in the same year. This is the first time a continental paralympic competition has been held in Africa.
Later in 2024, the summer Olympics, officially the Games of Paris 2024, an international multi-sport event is scheduled to take place from 26 July to 11 August, with Paris as its main host city together with 16 cities spread across metropolitan France.