Ghana has landed in Glasgow with a 40-athlete squad, a captain in career-best form, and a slogan that leaves no room for modesty: “We Dare to Win.”
The Commonwealth Games Association of Ghana named its squad earlier this month, spread across nine disciplines, athletics, boxing, judo, cycling, weightlifting, swimming and three Para sports. Athletics is the largest group by far, 13 strong, fronted by sprinters Benjamin Azamati and Joseph Paul Amoah, who was named Team Ghana’s captain for these Games. Amoah, who won Ghana’s only athletics medal (a bronze) at Birmingham 2022, arrives in excellent form, having clocked 19.99 seconds in the 200m in Memphis just two weeks ago. He’ll anchor Ghana’s sprint and 4x100m relay hopes alongside Isaac Botsio, Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, Deborah Acheampong and Anita Afrifa.
Boxing sends the second-largest contingent, 10 fighters, a discipline with real pedigree behind it; Ghana’s boxing history runs through names like Azumah Nelson, who himself urged the squad to stay disciplined in the final weeks of preparation. The team also features high jumper Rose Yeboah, 800m runner Abigail Abugire, 400m hurdler Baba Seidu Mammoudu, judokas Frema Agyei and Elizabeth Oduro, and a strong Para squad led by Tahiru Haruna, Zinabu Issah, Hayford Addai and Raphael Nkegbe Botsyo.
Two names carried special honours at Thursday’s opening ceremony. Para powerlifter Tahiru Haruna was named Ghana’s King’s Baton Bearer, a nod to the growing place of Para sport within Ghana’s programme. And leading the country into the Hydro, flag held high, was 17-year-old judo gold medallist Frema Agyei, one of the youngest athletes to carry that honour for Ghana and a symbol, officials said, of the next generation coming through.
“Team Ghana will consist of a lean, mean, high-efficiency squad,” said Richard Akpokavie, president of the Ghana Olympic Committee and CGA Ghana, ahead of the Games, stressing that every athlete had come through rigorous technical validation to earn their place. With competition now underway through 2 August, Ghana will be chasing more than just Amoah’s solitary Birmingham medal, they’ll be hoping this squad, built around youth and proven experience in equal measure, adds a real haul to the country’s Commonwealth record.
