Badminton Association hail success of President’s Invitational tournament

Bigwigs of the Badminton Association of Ghana (BAG) are singing the praises of players of the game in this country following their spectacular performances at last week’s President’s invitational championships staged in Accra.

Solomon Nyarko stood tallest in the senior men’s category after beating Eric Attah Ninkyi in a hotly contested final with Noah Ayim finishing 3rdas the defending champion and national number one Daniel Sam, was left out in the cold.

“It was very successful in the sense that the standard was high and if the number one player could be beaten then you can see how determined the others were. Looking especially at the under 15s, then you could see we have a lot of potential in the future,” stated an obviously delighted Ignatius Elletey, Secretary General of BAG.

Gifty Mensah topped the senior ladies division, beating Linda Osei Hammond and Stella Amasah into 2nd and 3rd places respectively. The U-19s had Abraham Ayittey, Michael Baah and Richard Aidoo finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rdrespectively in the Boys’ section with the girls top 3 going to Diana Archer, Grace Atipaka and Lydia Asamoah in that order.

Emmanuel Botwe won the boys’ U-15 group, Anthony Gordon was runner-up and Philip Ayisah finished third. Girls’ U-15 winner was Eunice Arthur with 2ndplace going to Pearl K. Mamah and Belinda Aidoo taking 3 rd.

Up next for the association is the Africa Championships slated for the Ethiopia capital of Addis Ababa in late February.

“The seniors will start preparations towards the continental tournament very soon. We need to do well there to gain points for our players’ rankings,” Mr. Elletey told ALL SPORTS.