The President of the Ghana Boxing Federation, Bernard Quartey has explained the rationale behind the decision to exclude Olympic bronze medalist, Samuel Takyi from Ghana’s boxing team for the 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers.
After winning bronze at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, Samuel Takyi who is now 22-years-old was expected to be part of Ghana’s amateur boxing team known as the Black Bombers for the 2024 Games which would be hosted in Paris, France.
However, it turns out that Samuel Takyi who had expressed his desire to be part of the team, wanted made requirements met before he would take part in the 2024 Olympic Games for Ghana.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb, the GBF president disclosed that Samuel Takyi demanded that his $20,000 reward from President Akufo-Addo which was an investment should be paid to him before he joined the team.
He also demanded to be placed on the Olympics scholarship fund before he represented the country at the Games.
Bernard Quartey told GhanaWeb, “Initially he came to me that he wanted to be part of the team but he came with conditionalities that if he is able to join this is what he expects the federation to do.
“He was also demanding the money that was pledged by the president [Akufo-Addo] is $20,000 which was supposed to be used as a developmental fee for him.
“Secondly, he demanded that before he joined the team, he should be given an Olympic Scholarship. These are the conditions he demanded but we don’t have the power to dictate it. He is welcome to join but not with conditionalities,” the GBF president said.
According to the GBF president, Ghana’s coach, Ofori Asare decided to drop Samuel Takyi since the boxer was not mentally ready to fight for Ghana.
“Looking at the situation, the coach thought it wise that he was not prepared psychologically. We are going with this team and if someone in his weight qualifies it means we have to find another weight for him at the next qualifies,” he said.
Samuel Takyi became the third Ghanaian boxer in history to win bronze at the Olympics in 2020. The lightweight boxer who has moved up in weight can end up fighting for Ghana in the light-welterweight division should he join the team for their last qualification tournament.
The Black Bombers will travel to Dakar, Senegal for the 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers which starts on September 9, 2023.
Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.
JNA/KPE
You can also watch today's GhanaWeb news headlines in Twi here
