National Para-Taekwondo depart for Rwanda

The Ghana National Para-Taekwondo team would leave for Rwanda next Monday, March 27, 2017 to compete in the 2nd African Para-Taekwondo Open Championships.

The two-day tournament would start on April 1 in Kigali.

A press release issued by the Federation to the Ghana News Agency on Friday in Accra and signed by Adnan Lamptey, Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Taekwondo Federation, (GTF) said the Para-Taekwondo championships involves people with physical challenges, specifically persons with an amputated arm.

It said the trip to Rwanda forms part of a larger plan to develop Ghanaian Para-Taekwondo athletes to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

The release said the GTF has secured four tickets out of five from a facility by World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and was keenly looking for sponsorship for the team.

"We can't let the opportunity by way of assistance from the WTF to go waste for the third time in a row. The world body is paying for tickets and accommodation and it is left to the GTF to pay for food, per diem allowances and other items".

The team will be led by the chairman of the GTF Para-Taekwondo Committee, Mr. Lawrence Osei-Boateng and would include the coach, Adom Mensah Latse, two male athletes, Stephen Kwasi Sansah (Brong Ahafo Region) and Azumah Salah Mohammed (Ashanti Region) and one female athlete, Kubura Awudu (Greater Accra Region).

Ghana won its first world medal (bronze) in Taekwondo in 2014 in Russia through Para-Taekwondo athlete, Sharon Akwei.