Ghana Bombers fail to qualify for 2016 Rio Olympic Games

Ghana would not have any representative in boxing at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games later in August this year, for the first time in twenty years after the Ghanaian boxers failed the qualification series in Yaoundé, Cameroun.

The Ghana amateur boxing team, the Black Bombers sent eight boxers, including one female boxer to the qualification series, which began on March 9 and ended on March 20.

Black Bombers were left with only two Olympic hopefuls in the semifinal stage of the competition over the weekend after six of the boxers failed in the early rounds.

However Ghana’s hope of winning an Olympic ticket in boxing was dashed when Azumah Mohammed and Abdul Wahid Omar all lost out the chance to their Algerian and Moroccan counterparts respectively in the semifinal qualification berths.

Azumah was defeated by Kedache Zohir of Algeria by unanimous decision whilst Omar also lost out by a unanimous to Mohammed Hamout of Morocco.

Ghana had five representatives for boxing alone in the last Olympic Games in London 2012 – David Bawa, Maxwell Amponsah, Duke Micah, Azumah Mohammed and the current WBO and Interim WBA Pan African champion Isaac Dogbe.

Preparations for this qualification series “was not the best” following concerns raised by the boxers over poor camping camping conditions at the Theodosia Okoe Hockey Pitch in Accra.

The team were not given any camping allowance for the days they spent camping and also had to walk each day from their camping base to the training center at Accra Sports Stadium for training.

There was also serious issues of black out at the camp which forced the team members to sleep outside the corridors of their rooms at night because of hot conditions in their various rooms.

Out of the four medals ever won by Ghana at the Olympics, boxing have won the country three of those medals and the remaining medal won in football in Barcelona 1992.

Source: GNA