The weightlifing story since 2012

On taking over in 2012, we put together a 4-Year Development plan which we projected will culminate in producing Commonwealth and African Youth and Junior champions by 2016, a target we far exceeded.

From an open-air training area at the Kaneshie Sports Complex in 2011 to our own ultra-modern and well equipped Gym and Training Center at the Accra Sports Stadium.

In 2013, our target was to create an attractive brand out of weightlifting, a brand that can encourage corporate association and sponsorship. This we did by engaging a lot of media to hype up the sports of Weightlifting and also by taking part in every continental championship. This resulted in the national team, the Black Cranes winning nineteen (19) medals at the African championship in Morocco, this is Ghana’s highest medal haul by any one discipline at a single competition.

In 2014, we put in place structures both physical and administrative/technical structures. This we did by putting up our own gym and training centre at a cost of 120,000 USD and also the training of twenty seven (27) weightlifting coaches. We also opened a well-furnished administrative office at the Accra Sports Stadium and formed seven (7) sub committees to help the executive board in the discharge of its duties.

Our medal haul in 2014 was six (6) silver medals from the African Youth Games in Botswana, we also won three (3) awards at the 2014 SWAG Awards.

In 2015, we embarked on various talent identification drive and the formation of various weightlifting clubs in the Greater Accra region. These clubs are now the key stakeholders in weightlifting in the country. Out of these clubs have come our current African and commonwealth medalists like David Akwei, Gabriel Owusu, Jeremiah Teng.Gbul Benye, Richmond Osafo, Christian Amoah, Winnifred Ntumi, Faustina Allotey and Abraham Adjei amongst others.

Our medal haul in 2015 was three (3) bronze medals at the All African Games in Congo Brazzaville.

In 2016 we took part in the Rio Olympic qualifier in Cameroon and won three (3) bronze medals, and duly qualified Ghana for the Rio 2016 Olympics. We also took part in the Commonwealth championship in Malaysia and won 4 medals (two gold medals, one silver and one bronze )

Weightlifting won a total of five (5) awards at the 2016 SWAG Awards, these awards included THE SPORTS FEDERATION OF THE YEAR and ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT OF THE YEAR. The president of the federation was also voted by the sports fans of Ghana as THE SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR during the 2016 Happy FM Sports Fans Award.

The trend continued in 2017 which saw us winning two (2) medals at the Commonwealth Championship in Gold Coast, Australia which qualified us to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia. We again won six (6) medals (one Gold, four Silver and one Bronze) at the African Youth and Junior championships in Uganda.

We also competed in the IWF World Championships in the US which was a high level performance for our athletes.

Deputy Secretary General of the Federation, Ken Odeng Adade, attended a Sports Management Course in Weightlifting organised by the Weightlifting Federation of Africa (WFA) to upgrade his knowledge in his administrative duties.

In the early parts of 2018, the national weightlifting team competed in the Africa Youth and Junior Championships in Cairo, Egypt and excelled by winning 11 medals. This qualified the team to the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The team also participated in the Commonwealth Games and improved their personal bests which won the admiration of the IWF President, Dr Tamas Ajan.

Christian Amoah finished 5th in the 85kg category while Richmond Osarfo finished 4th in the 105kg with Forrester Osei finishing 6th in the 94kg.

We are currently looking forward to competing at the Africa Weightlifting Championship in Mauritius and also hoping to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.

Our current sponsorship with Multi Pro Ghana Limited producers of Indomie noodles which is in its second year have helped us to discover, identify, train and develop fifteen (15) young boys and girls below the ages of 16 who on any given day can take on Africa and the Commonwealth and come up tops in any Youth and Junior Championship.

We hope to continue with this talent hunt and development and create a sustainable growth of the game in our country. We currently have over 40 young boys and girls below age 13 who trains at our Training Centre every Saturday and when school vacates on a daily basis.

We are still looking forward to what the good Lord will continue to bless us with for the coming years.