Sports
A tragedy worth discussing
A boxer collapsing in the ring and eventually passing on is nothing new to followers of the sport of boxing.
It is the reason why commentaries on the collapse and death of a Nigerian boxer, Gabriel Oluwasegun Olanrewaju, in a Ghanaian ring are flying from all angles on both traditional and social media.
In fact, such occurrences are part of the many dangers that are associated with boxing. Some of the boxers that survived the brutal sport even end up suffering major health complications as a result.
That, perhaps explains why some people wonder why boxing is accepted or considered a sport.
Every stakeholders of boxing – from the boxers to the coaches, Matchmakers and Managers are fully aware of what they sign on to the moment they join the sport.
The boxers – the biggest sufferers – are aware of these dangers but strangely, they find fighting a passion and worth pursuing with the hunger required to succeed.
At the beginning, their sight and affection is fixed on the beautiful stories they read or hear about boxers that ended their careers successfully and becomes wealthy millionaires.
The mention of Oscar de la Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Caesar Chavez, Saul Alvarez Canelo, Gennady Golovkin, Ike Bazooka Quartey, and Azumah Nelson, among others fuels that passion.
So, at the start, issues about the dangers associated with it is not a concern at all.
Intriguingly, in Africa where logistics and required protocols are often not satisfactory, such incidents are not common.
For Nigerians, the first recorded case of a boxing tragedy occurred on June 14, 1982 when a young Ali collapsed in the ring, fell into coma, and died from blood clot two days later as he fought Ireland’s Barry McGuigan.
The list of victims of such incidents is so long.
Robert Wangila was a promising young fighter in Kenya but that burgeoning career was curtailed on July 22, 1994 when he died from an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain after a fight with USA’s David Gonzalez.
United Kingdom’s James Murray collapsed in the final round and died two days later after suffering brain injuries when he fought countryman, Drew Docherty.
On December 13, Zambia had their first experience with the sport’s darkest side.
Felix Bwalya emerged as a talented Zambian boxer and won a gold medal at the 1991 All-Africa Games and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
As a professional, he became African champion and went 12–1 (9 KO) on his way to winning the Commonwealth belt.
Nicknamed ‘The Hammer’, he captured the African Boxing Union light welterweight and Commonwealth super lightweight titles in 1995 and 1997 respectively, the latter after a controversial victory over Briton Paul Burke in Lusaka but subsequently died from head injuries sustained in the fight.
Bwalya was knocked down three times in the final rounds and died nine days later.
While in a coma, he was found to have had malaria in his bloodstream. The autopsy report stated that the cause of death was cardiorespiratory failure, severe blunt force trauma to the head, and bronchopneumonia in his right lung.
For Ghanaians, Gabriel Olanrewaju tragedy may be the first in a local ring but not so for Ghanaian boxer, Steve Dotse, whose opponent, Bobby Tomasello, of the USA collapsed in his dressing room after a 10-round draw on October 10, 2000.
He fell into coma from which he never wake up, dying five days later.
From this, one could clearly find out that boxing and some of these health dangers are bedfellows but that of these dangers can be controlled when the right protocols are put in place.
All these unfortunate boxers had medical clearances before their respective fights but that did not absolve them from such incidents, hence the need to be serious with their medical checkups.
Gladly, the calls for a thorough investigation into the Bukom Boxing Arena incident are directed at ensuring that the right protocols are enforced on fight nights to minimise such dangers.
One would only hope that the outcome of investigation would not find either the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) or their counterparts, the Nigeria Boxing Board of Control (NBBC) culpable, despite the conflicting comments in their respective statements on the incident.
Going forward, this should serve as a wake-up call for the GBA to always ensure that the various structures in the federation works without unwarranted interference.
Again, dangers associated with the sport can also be stretched to the fans if recent occurrences at the Arena are anything to go by. That adds a lot of weight to the responsibilities on the GBA to make the sport very safe for all
By Andrew Nortey
Sports
Aduana Stars to benefit from ‘Nsoatreman largesse’
It will be the turn of Aduana Stars to benefit from the three points and three goals without kicking a ball as the Ghana Premier League reaches match day 28 on Sunday.
The Dormaa side are scheduled to play as host to Nsoatreman FC which pulled out of the competition for security reasons, following their involvement in crowd violence when they played Asante Kotoko.
After the decision that forced the FA to enforce its rules, clubs that were yet to play them have enjoyed three points and three goals without kicking the ball.
For the Dormaa side, the gift of match day 28 would go a long way to boost their chances of climbing the table to contest for some of the top of the table slots.
The story would, however, be different for the others including Asante Kotoko who would be engaged in a difficult clash against Nations FC at the Dr Kwame Kyei Stadium.
Kotoko are beginning to feel the pressure that comes from occupying the top position as clubs attempt to dethrone them week in week out.
They have drawn in their last two games against Heart of Lions and Bechem United. The game with Nations FC would be equally tough and would need their men to be in good shape to survive a third scare.
Dreams FC’s inconsistent form would continue at the Tuba Astro Turf where they lock horns with Vision FC just as Holy Stars look set to deepen the woes of Legon Cities in their game at the C.A.M Park in Ainyinase.
Hearts of Oak would have to show character to secure all three points against Karela United at the Accra Sports Stadium while Goldstars and Medeama SC slug it out at the Bibiani DUN’s Park.
The Kpando Stadium would host the battle of the Lions as host, Heart of Lions, oblige relegation threatened Accra Lions in a potentially explosive encounter.
At the Wenchi Stadium, Young Apostles will face Samartex FC while Bechem United host Berekum Chelsea at the Nana Fosu Gyeabour Park.
Sports
Ayekoo, Police Ladies
Participation of Ghana’s security services in sports is seen more as a recreation or a creation for officers to be actively involved in play or physical exercise.
This reflects their absence on the honours boards of some of the major sports events, especially football.
But it is not so with other sports like athletics, boxing, handball, volleyball, basketball, mass sports and many others.
In these sports, they are dominated by players or athletes from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), comprising the Army, Air Force and Navy, the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Revenue Authority, previously referred to as the Customs Excise and Preventive Service, Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and the Ghana Prisons Service (GPS).
Fact is, they have been credited with some of the major honours achieved in sports as a nation.
For instance, the Prisons service’s role in the career of the boxing professor, Azumah Nelson, has always been recognised as he started his career affiliated to the service.
GRA was considered a household name in the active days of basketball with years of dominance by the Brave’s team that stretched their dominance across Africa.
In volleyball and handball, Police, Fire and Prisons have created tensed and thrilling atmospheres that attracted hundreds of fans to the Prisons Sports Courts in Cantonment.
The Armed Forces have been strong in boxing and the marathons.
What is, however, making the services shy away from the honours list in football may perhaps be the belief that they may be in a disadvantaged position to keep pace with the professional clubs.
For the professionals, they eat and drink the game, but athletes or players with the services would have other duties to perform the moment they leave the field or their respective training venues.
Secondly, their conditions of service would not allow them to ‘poach’ or sign on players at exorbitant amounts. This means the services would find it difficult to attract good footballers to compete with the likes of Hearts’, Kotokos, Great Olympics and others.
However, the Police Ladies football team rendered this analogy gibberish over the weekend with a historic triumph in the Southern Zone of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
After an 18-week run, the Police Ladies team that has campaigned under the shadows of top women club sides in the competition emerged from those dark shades, setting an enviable record other sister agencies would target to emulate.
The women in blue-and-white were crowned Southern Zone of the Malta Guinness Women’s Premier League champions, unseating the regular winners, Hasaacas Ladies.
It was a hard-fought victory for the police women and the joy that greeted the final whistle was incredible as they cartwheeled in unending joy to mark a feat never achieved in their history.
That was understandable because it came over Hasaacas Ladies, an experienced side that made marks in their maiden participation in the CAF Women’s Champions League competition.
However, going into the final game with 36 points, same as their opponents Hasaacas Ladies, the scale tilted in favour of Hasaacas Ladies.
But while the police women managed a 2-0 victory over FC Epiphany Warriors at the Adjiriganor Astro Turf in Accra, Hasaacas Ladies dropped two vital points after being held to a 1-1 draw encounter against Jonina Ladies.
Police Ladies, thus, finished the season with 11 wins, six draws, and one defeat, accruing 39 points would now face Northern Zonal Champions, Ampem Darkoa, in the playoff finale in May.
In congratulating Police Ladies, one would wish to present the feat as a challenge to the other security agencies to begin to focus on the business aspect of sports.
In some part of Africa, police teams feature regularly in their male elite leagues just as it remain a common feature in the francophone regions where Douanes (Customs teams) feature in their elite competition.
Sadly in Ghana, no team, as of now, from any of the security agencies have come close to even the national Division One League (DOL), indicating a very low desire to recruit very good players to make them competitive.
But reaching the very top in sports is not something beyond them. The feat by Police Ladies clearly shows that when the recruits are groomed well, they can become top professionals and compete at the highest level.
Maybe in their future recruitment, they can place special emphasis on signing people with special talents to give them competitive advantage. That will also put their players who are not staff of the service the chance to be considered.
As we wait to hear when any of the security agencies would sell their first player, we say a big ‘ayekoo’ to the Police Ladies team for doing a yeoman’s job.
By Andrew Nortey
