African Youth Games : Day 5

Ghana's Christian Amoah (left) on the medal podium

Ghana’s two medallists in the men’s and women’s weightlifting competition are set to be rewarded with two more medals each after an anomaly was detected by the African Weightlifting Federation.

The athletes were apparently not given the standard three medals each for placing second in the snatch and, clean and jerk categories during their medal ceremonies due to a shortage of medals.

According to the Head coach of the Weightlifting team, Albert Abotsi, after competing in both the snatch and clean and jerk competitions, the athletes should have been given three medals based on their final placements in the three different event categories: i.e. the snatch, clean and jerk and also for the total amount of weight they lifted.

Albert Abotsi revealed that Team Ghana has already been notified of the decision by the African Weightlifting Federation to present the four medals to the athletes on Tuesday, 27 May in Gaborone.

This will bring Team Ghana’ total medal haul to six after Day 5 of the Games.

Badminton:

There was more disappointment from Team Badminton in the singles events on day five of the Games, after number one seed Abraham Ayittey and his colleagues failed to make it to the semi finals and medal zones of their respective events.

In an uncharacteristic fashion, Ayittey was defeated by Mauritius’s top seed, Paul Julien in two straight sets 21:15 21-13.

There was more heartache for Ayittey as he and his partner Mohammed Adam missed the chance to win a medal in the men’s doubles after losing to Botswana’s Tsepo Perekisi and Tumisang Olekantse 21:18 21-19 in two closely fought sets.

It seemed fatigue had finally taken its toll on the youngsters because soon after, the pair of Ayittey and Diana Archer also lost out on an opportunity to medal when they lost the mixed doubles quarter finals to their counterparts from Mauritius, Paul Julien and Allet Aurelie 21-11 21-15.

In another mixed doubles encounter, Ghana’s Mohammed Adam and Victoria Asmah made a bright start in their game against Egypt’s Youssef Essam and Farida Mostafa, winning the first set before succumbing 14-21 21-17 23-21.

Diana Archer made a bold attempt to bring some hope to Ghana’s fading medal hopes when she came back from a set down to level 1:1,  but she could do very little to stop Nigeria’s Dorcas Adesokan from winning the third set in the women’s singles 1/16^th tie 21-17 7-21 21-17.

Table Tennis:

Team Table Tennis recorded an impressive outing in the mixed doubles event as Isaac Amoako and Eve Adom Amankwah qualified for the quarter finals of the event.

The pair beat Zambia 2:0 but lost 2:1 to Nigeria to advance. They will get to know their next opponent after the draw is made on Tuesday morning.

The duo are billed to be in action later on in the day for a place in the semi finals and a chance to medal.

Cycling:

Ghana’s lone cyclist, Frank David Awuku is set to be in action on Tuesday morning in the Cycling competition.

AFRICA YOUTH GAMES DAY 4 REPORT

Abraham Ayittey and Mohammed Adam in action against South Africa.

Team Ghana continued to rack up some impressive performances in the singles event of the Badminton competition but the Tables Tennis team missed out in their bid to secure medals in their singles event on Day-4 in the ongoing African Youth Championship in Gaborone, Botswana.

Badminton:

Ghana’s boy’s number one seed Abraham Ayittey advanced to the quarter finals of the boy’s singles event after beating Algeria’s Mohammed Amine Guelmaoui 21-17 21-19 at the Police College Indoor facility in Otse, Botswana.

Ayittey had earlier accounted for Congo’s Tony Tshizanaga Mutombo winning 21-8 21-1 in a one sided second round game, after drawing a bye in the first round.

The Takoradi based player is set to play Mauritius’ first seed, Julien Paul in what has been billed as the highlights of Day-5 at the AYG on Monday, 26^th May.

Meanwhile, Abraham Ayittey and Diana Archer came back from a set down to beat their counter parts from Botswana to qualify for the quarter finals of the mixed doubles event.

The Ghanaian youngsters won 14-21 21-18 21-8 in a tensed fight for victory to set up a clash with Mauritius on Monday.

Ayittey and his boy’s doubles partner Mohammed Adam drew a bye in the first round of that competition and have advanced to the next stage of the competition.

However, Team Ghana suffered some early exits in the singles games.

Mohammed Adam lost 2:0 to Botswana’s Tumisang Olekantse while Diana also lost 2:0 to Nigeria’s top seed Dorcas Adesokan in round two. Similarly, Victoria Asmah lost 2:0 to Egypt’s Farida Mostafa.

The competition continues on Monday, 26^th May with some exciting match ups in the singles and doubles events.

The Head coach of the Badminton Team, Jacob Wilson commented about his team’s performances.

“It’s been an improvement over the previous outing. They played with more dedication and commitment and also listened more and digested what they were told by the coach.

“If all goes well, we will have to do better than yesterday.”

Table Tennis:

Isaac Amoako and Eve Adom Amankwah missed out on a place on the medal podium in the Table Tennis Championship at the African Youth Games following defeats to their Mauritius and Congolese opponents respectively on Sunday at the National Youth Centre in Gaborone.

The duo went into their individual quarter final events on the back of some impressive displays in the first and second rounds but came unstuck against their more tactical and experienced opponents.

Adom placed 6^th in the subsequent placement matches while Isaac came 8^th overall.

Head coach of Team Ghana, Mr. Owusu Ansah was keen to dwell on the positives of participating in the Games, noting that this was the first time since 2008 that Ghana had competed in a major African Championship.

DAY 3 AFRICA YOUTH GAMES

Christian Amoah (left) wins Ghana’s second medal

Christian Amoah becomes second Ghanaian to win a medal at the African Youth Games after grabbing a silver medal in the men's 77kg weightlifting competition. 

Amoah has thus qualified for the World Youth Championship in Nanjing China and in the process set a new National record in the 77kg category, finishing with a total of 225kg.

Amoah tried unsuccessfully to wrestle the gold medal from Cameroun’s Cedric Feugno who won the gold medal in the division.

The 15-year old was participating in his second major competition after taking part in the African Weightlifting Championship last year.

He showed a great character of strength to clinch the medal, having watched Juliana Arkoh win a silver medal the day before.

Swimming:

Ghana’s Ophelia Swayne missed the chance to advance in the Swimming competition at the ongoing African Youth Games in Botswana after placing 23^rd and 21^st overall in the women’s 50m freestyle  and the 50m butterfly events respectively.

Swayne had an off colour day clocking 30.62 in the freestyle and 32.36 in the butterfly. The youngster, who is on a Ghana Olympic Committee sourced Olympic Solidarity scholarship, promised to train hard for the upcoming World Youth Championship in Nanjing, China, having completed her exams.

Table Tennis:

The pair of Isaac Amoako and Marian Amankwah Adom could move into the medal zone of their respective singles events with wins at 1/8^th stage of their singles events on Saturday.

The two players won their 1/16^th games on Saturday, and have set themselves up against opponents from Mauritius and Congo respectively in the Table Tennis competition on Sunday.