Accra, Aug 16, GNA - The National Karate team has returned home with a gold, two silver and 10 bronze medals after participating in the Union Des Karate Federation Championship which took place in Cotonou, the capital city of Benin from the sixth to 13th of August.
Briefing the GNA Sports, the Chairman of the Ghana Karate federation Sensei Jude Adu-Amankwah, described the event as a worthwhile event even though he complained about bad officiating that nearly destroyed the beauty of the sport.
"It is unfortunate that biased officiating at the UFAK Championships is gradually making the competition loose its credibility. You can imagine that it is only Ghana that was the only Anglophone country that is represented at the event.
No wonder Nigeria has since 2004 boycotted the event which is now predominantly dominated by countries from the Francophone countries". Sensei Adu-Amakwah said "We were overwhelmed by the bias of the officials which is seen as part of an outlined objectives".
He said it was necessary that more officiating courses were organized for some of the veteran players to augment the situation so that Ghana does not boycott future tournaments.
The General Secretary of the Federation, Patrick Anyidohu Cousie, however, gave the assurance that the Federation's main focus is over the All African Games, adding that much emphasis would be made to form a formidable team before the end of the year.
Ghana's only gold medal was won by Victor lartey with Slyvester Davis grabbing a silver and bronze while Abdul Wahab won the a silver medal.
Tevi Agbeko, Awa Jeano, Ernest Agodji, Bright Tettey, James Minkana, Adama Anani, Victor Ackom and Prince Wilson won bronze medals in the kata and kunite divisions.
Sensei Melvin Brown, Technical Committee Chairman of Karate Association thanked the ECG, Tropical Cables, All Afra and the Ministry of Education, science and Sports for supporting the Federation. He appealed to corporate bodies and individuals to consider supporting the Federation make in-roads in the sport. 16 Aug. 06
