Ghana Sambo team set medal targets for British Open

Players and officials of the Ghana national Sambo team are determined to sweep a massive medal haul when they compete in the British Open next month, after joining the Ridge Judo Club to conduct a demonstration for trainees of the Ghana Prisons Service last Thursday.

Vice-President of the Ghana Sambo Association (GSA), Alex Amoako Amponsah personally took part in the exhibitions on self-defence and other combat skills after which he declared the readiness of the national team to excel at the highly regarded Sambo tournament in the UK on March 18.

A member of the team which raked in five individual gold medals to finish third overall in the 8-nation competition when Ghana participated two years ago, Amoako Amponsah assures Ghanaians they can do even better.

"Since we started Sambo, we have been to four international competitions and we brought medals home from all four tournaments," he started.

"This was also purposely to select players for the upcoming competition which is the British Open and this time we want to focus on building a female team, the females normally don't get opportunities but this time we have picked three females and two males," Alex Amoako Amponsah disclosed.

"The men will fight heavyweight and middleweight but the ladies we have picked juniors including an 8-year-old girl whom we believe if she starts travelling and competing, this young lady will gain massive experience and exposure which will help her become a champion," added the Ghana Sambo vice president.

Enoch Agyekum, President of the GSA hailed the exhibition show and revealed plans to promote and develop the sport at the grassroots level across the country.

"The purpose is to teach self-defence and introduce the trainees to discipline. At the same time this was an opportunity for the Commandant of the Ghana Prisons Training Centre to build a closer relationship with the sport," the UK-based Agyekum said.

"Sambo is a type of wrestling which originated from Russia and is set to become an Olympic sport, we want to introduce it more into the academic institutions like JHS and SHS. Sports helps to build good character, people can also learn about self-defence in order to practice it in real life situations," he added.