The year 2021 has witnessed a wonderful display giving hope for a bright future to Sports in Ghana as featherweight boxer Samuel Takyi grabbed the country’s first medal at the Olympics in 29 years and Benjamin Azamati broke the 22- year national record in 100m against the odds.
Benjamin Azamati broke the bounds with a stunning performance making him the male Athlete of the year in SWAG awards.
The 23-year-old started the year by breaking the long-standing National record in 100m and booked a place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with a smashing 9.97s run in Heat 8 of Texas Relays in March. Benjamin after breaking the 22-year old record said he “didn’t expect to break the national record”.
Benjamin Azamati also became the third-fastest ever in the history of the NACCA Division II Outdoor T&F Championships after he clocked 10,04s in the 100m at the Grand Valley.
Benjamin Azamati together with Joseph Paul, Joseph Oduro, Sarfo Antwi, Sean Sarfo-Antwi and Emmanuel Yeboah represented Ghana in 4x100m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Benjamin Azamti put up a spectacular performance in the men’s 100m in round 1 as he placed fourth with a time of 10.13s but was not enough for him to qualify for the next round.
Joseph Amoah was also a spectacle in the Men’s 200m race when he got a season-best time of 20.35s in round 1 where he finished third and gained qualification to the semifinals where he once again got a season-best of 20.27 and placed fourth but unfortunately was unable to qualify to the finals.
Joseph Amoah, Benjamin Azamati and the rest of the 4×100 relay team run a time of 38.08s which turned out as a national record and placed fifth which earned them a qualification to the final.
The team was unable to fulfill to dream of winning a medal for the country as they were disqualified in the final.
In Boxing, Micheal Ansha and Sherrif Quaye’s fight was a great one, but the star of the 2021 year is definitely the young Olympic Medalist Samuel Takyi.
Samuel Takyi was the nations pride at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as he won a bronze medal at the competition getting Ghana a first podium finish in 29 years.
Samuel Takyi had an incredible Olympic Journey as he beat Columbia’s Ceiber David Segura in the quarter-final 3-2 on points that guaranteed him and the nation a least a bronze medal. He headed into the semi-final with the hopes of getting into the finals to grab a gold or silver medal but could not go past a more experienced and professional Ragan Duke who won by a 4-1 split decision.
Although Samuel was not able to reach the final as most would have wanted, he was still seen as a national hero by Ghanaians back home.
Samuel Takyi may have been the highest boxing topic in 2021, but one boxing event you can’t go past when reminiscing on highlights of year is the fight between Richard Commey and Vasily Lomachenko.
The bout was very much anticipated by Ghanaians all over the world but Commey failed to meet expectations of Ghanaians he was defeated in a dominant twelve round unanimous decision with the judges scoring it 117-110, 119-108, 119-108 . “I let my country down”. Commey said after the bout.
The year saw some dramatic scenery in football in Ghana as Accra Hearts of Oak completed a record sixth domestic double after to end their 12 year trophy drought.
The Phobians had an incredible season finish after a poor to the season winning both the Ghana Premier league title and the FA Cup.
This success lead Accra hearts of Oak to the CAF Champions League where they initially beat Guinea’s CI Kamsar in a 2-0 single-leg match.
The Ghanaian champions progressed to the round of 16 stages where they faced off Wydad Athletic Casablanca of Morocco.
The Phobians won the first the first leg by 1 goal to ni at the Accra Sports stadium but were humilIated in a 6-1 defeat Morocco in the second leg.
The elimination relegated the Phobians to the CAF confederation where they were knocked out by JS Saoura after 4-2 defeat on aggregate.
Elsewhere, Hasaacas ladies continued their successful streak in the women’s football as they won their 4th women’s league title.
The team made it’s debut in Africa where they battled to the finals of CAF Women’s Champions League but were pinned to the ground by Memolodi Sundowns with a close shave of 1 goal to nil. Sandra Owusu who was nominated for the FIFA Puskas award.
In the camp of the national team, coach CK Akonnor was sacked after 20 months in charge following a defeat to South Africa in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and unimpressive performance of the Black Stars.
For a quick succession, a 3-man committee was set to probe into the possibilities of getting a new manager for the Black Stars of Ghana.
Serbian international who was also former coach, Milovan Rajevac was re-appointed into the office and since continued the world cup qualifier journey. Milo would lead Ghana to the playoffs of the qualifiers with a controversial win against South Africa.
The South African side made several protests against the penalty awarded to the Black Stars in the world cup qualifier but proved futile. FIFA dismissed South Africa’s protest admitting that the protest was inadmissible without providing any further details.
Hence the general football performance of the country remained unchanged as FIFA ranked Ghana as 52nd in the FIFA ranking of football nations. The Black Stars are into the playoffs together with teams like Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt, Mali, and many others ready to battle it out for spots in the world cup. The team will begin their 2021 AFCON campaign against Morocco on January 10, 2022.