Para icons, Indian Association to be honoured at 3rd Liquid Sports Awards

Liquid Sports Ghana is set to honour some national para-sports icons and the Indian Women’s Association of Ghana for their contribution to the growth and development of the para-sports movement in Ghana at the 3rd Liquid Sports Ghana Awards to be held at the luxurious Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City on 9th June.

According to the organizers of the event, the award would become an annual para-sport award to honour top athletes, officials and organizations like the Indian Women’s Association of Ghana for supporting para-sports, and recognizing their achievements from the most recent year.

The Indian Women’s Association of Ghana (IWA) is a non-profit organization which was established over 35 years ago with a goal to provide a social and cultural platform to unify the Indian community and to reach out to the needy in the local community.

IWA is currently supporting two Ghana Paralympic athletes Raphael Botsyo Nkegbe and Maclean Atsu Dzidzienyo to achieve laurels for Ghana. Raphael Botsyo Nkegbe has represented Ghana 3-times at the Olympic Games and recently participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast Australia. Maclean Atsu Dzidzienyo is a two-time winner of the prestigious annual Outeniqua Wheelchair Challenge in South Africa.

In support of “Save a Child Save a Mother Project, IWA donated vital sign units and monitors to the Rebecca Foundation for the mother and baby unit at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi. Among other things, IWA provided relief materials worth GH 30,000 to NADMO during the Accra floods in 2015.

Para sports has contributed immensely to the growth of Ghana sports and changing perceptions about people with disability in Ghana and the world at various international events, notably at the All Africa Games, Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games.

Most recently, wheelchair athlete Patrick Yaw Obeng won two medals at an African Championships in Morocco while Raphael Botsyo Nkegbe made the final of the men’s 1500m event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Ghana recorded its highest number of qualifiers for a single Paralympic Games at London 2012 where four national athletes wheelchair including specialist Raphael Botsyo Nkegbe, powerlifter Charles Narh, para-cyclist Alem Mumuni, and the only female member of the team para wheelchair athlete Anita Fordjour participated in the Games.

Subsequently, Alem Mumuni and Charles Narh Teye qualified and participated at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

For the inaugural Liquid Sports Ghana Para Awards, the award recipients will be made up of para-sports athletes who have helped spread the development of the para movement in the country and hoisting the national flag by competing at some major international championships.

The individuals would also be selected based on leadership and excellence demonstrated while competing for Ghana.

The 3rd Liquid Sports Ghana Awards is sponsored by Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, Rokmer Pharma Ltd will recognize and reward athletes, individuals, and organizations for their contribution to sports.