The love and wish to raise, develop and promote the sport of
kickboxing to rival other disciplines in Ghana is one that will continue to run
in the blood of ace kickboxer Joseph Mingle, even if he can’t compete himself
no more.
The Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) 2010 award
winner now responds to the name Nii Mankralo of Sakaman, upon his enstoolment as
traditional chief of Sakaman in Accra but even if it means he can’t compete
again, Nii Mankralo has exclusively told All Sports that he will continue to
champion the cause of the sport until the day it is as popular as any other
sport in this country.
“Kickboxing is a very nice sport and I am still committed to
it, I’m still training even though as a chief I can’t compete. It’s not
dangerous at all, it takes training to make it easy to fight.
“Our sports administrators only think about football but
take kickboxing when we went to Egypt for an international competition, we
returned with 5 gold, seven silver and 2 bronze. I think we are good in
kickboxing so the government and big companies should come to our aid and we
can unearth more talents to win glories for Ghana,” Nii Mankralo stated.
One of the pioneers of kickboxing as an organized sport in
this country before it was fully recognized association five years ago, Nii
Mankralo has fought in several international tournaments.
Among them, he boasts experience in international fights in
Egypt, Austria, Scotland, and Nigeria and returned with a bronze from an
international competition in Scotland last year that featured over 300
competitors.
Even as he sits on the Sakaman throne, Nii Mankralo of
Sakaman says his skills and expertise in the field is still very much available
to not just the Ghanaian kickboxing fraternity but the society at large.
“I’m also willing to help train all the security services
and all others including schools and students especially girls to protect
themselves against rape and other bad eventualities,” Nii Mankralo confided.Credit:
