The Ghana Boxing team representing the nation at the Olympic Games is calling on the Sports ministry and the National Sports Authority to get them into residential camping to enable them prepare adequately for the upcoming games which commence in July.
Three Boxers including captain Suleman Tetteh, a flyweight and a 2012 Olympian, featherweight Samuel Takyi, and Shakul Samir, a heavyweight have all qualified to represent Ghana at the Olympic Games but with barely than 3 months to the Multi-Sports event, the team is still on a non-residential camping regimen at the D.G. Hathiramani Hall at the Accra Stadium where they engage in daily drills. They are taking through various aspects of gym work with certain days reserved for roadwork and conditioning.
A situation the coach of the team Ofori Asare believes won’t help them achieve their target of winning Ghana’s first medal in 51 years at the Olympics.
“As we are coming here to train, some of them, walk from their homes here. They don’t even get allowances whether for transportation or training”.
“If we move into camping on time, the boxers won’t be stressing themselves walking from a long distances to train plus they will be monitored to eat well since we will have a nutritionist guiding their diet in addition to having a physiotherapist take care of them” he added.
The Ghana coach cautioned that if these things are not addressed early enough it will be difficult for Ghana to achieve the teams target of winning a medal and breaking the long wait for a medal.
“We have the men to achieve at the games but if our preparations don’t improve with the boxers camped and giving the required logistics we will fail”, Coach Ofori Asare told Starr Sports.
