2023 Badminton Open National Championships: Hear from the National Winners and see Podium photos from the event
This year's 2023 Ghana Open championships ended over the weekend with puzzling and thrilling participation from across the country, with 169 players and 314 matches on display at the Trust Sports Emporium, Accra event. The individual and club's open championship events saw age categories for the corporate teams, Juniors, Seniors, and Masters, are U15, U19, U30, 30-39,40-49, 50-59,60-69, and 70-79.
A total of 34 athletes have been identified to achieve the results for the national team selection to the World Championships, Individual events, African Championships, and the African Games to be held here in Ghana. In the U-15 category, Agona Nyakrom Stars dominated the entire results in the Boy's and Girl's Singles events, with sensational Adu Mintah Obapomba, Takyi Melchizedek and Nunoo Sarpei Gabriel claiming podium results whilst Ama Koramaa Moslena, Amiokor Sarpei Margaret and Koramaa Adu Hannah claimed the podium results in the Girls U-15 category.
In the U-19 category, undisputed Quarcoo Racheal, Ertornam Tornyenyor Cindy, and Afriyie Eliana won podium medals in the Girls category, whilst Nii Addo Obeng Shang Francis, Addo Leslie Adote Addo, Amofa Andy won podium medals in the Boys category.
In the U-19 BD Category, Korampong Ebenezer/Osei Elvis, Nii Addo Obeng Shang Francis/Ankrah Jonathan, and Amofa Andy/Adu Enoch achieved podium medals.
Newly sensation Alphous Kelvin Evans, Abdul-Samad Ahmad and Tamakloe Aaron achieved podium results in the Men Singles Seniors category.
The undisputed fifteen-year-old, Quarcoo Racheal, defeated all the females in the Women's Singles event, beating Nantuo Prospera in the finals to the delight of all national dignitaries.
In the keenly contested Mix Double Event, Nantuo Prospera/Alphous Kelvin, Regina Awontemi Asiabeka/Abdul-Samad Ahmad, and Ertornam Tornyenyor Cindy/Addo Leslie Adote Addo won podium medals to the amazement and dazzling performances of everyone and national media.
The event brought the discovery pair of Ofoli Rabiatu/Quarcoo Racheal, defeating the reigning champions Ertornam Tornyenyor Cindy/Nantuo Prospera and Yengnone Hilda Hectorina Napour/Botchway Lilian in the finals to all all-women doubles final event.
Accra2023 LOC Chairman, Dr Kweku Ofosu Asare, shared, "I have been highly appraised of the talent exhibited by the various team and very promising to win medals for Team Ghana next year, as Ghana hosts the African Games. Badminton is an Olympic qualifier for the African Games event, and Ghana Badminton will have the necessary infrastructure to host mega international and domestic events after the 2023 Africa Games."
In the Veterans Men's Double Category, Noah Ayim/Delawoe Nyanyo, Rahul Das Mohan/Karumli Jayan and Douglas Coleman/Ibrahim Ishaq from Adenta Badminton Club also won podium medals.
The winners of each category are awarded a national gold medal and crowned National Champion in their age category. The runner-up gets a silver medal, while the third-place winner receives a bronze medal. Participants also earned the glory of participating and selection for educational scholarships and prize money of GHc 20,000 and national certificates. The event also saw the assessment of technical officials during the tournament, all in preparation for the African Games.
"I am thrilled with my performance" I've made many people proud, and it's nice to know all of the hard work I've put in during the past few months has come to fruition." Racheal Quarcoo, the most decorated player at the national championship, said after her final win.
Moslena Ama Korama, the National U-15 Girls Champion, commented, "Since the start of the tournament, my touch, feel, and movement has been on form," she said.
"I've been focusing on increasing my physical effort and going that extra mile to improve my overall fitness, and I'm glad I have achieved podium results. " Eliana Afriyie, Bronze medalist in the Women's category.
"More than anything, the Men's Singles title has given me plenty of confidence for the future. I am now looking to play more tournaments to get more international experience," Kelvin Alphous said.
The National Event was sponsored by Lucozade Energy Drinks, Yoomi Yoghurt, Blue Skies Fruit Juice and 21 media houses including Super Sport Africa. The frequency with which the audience was exposed to public media sponsorships on Social, TV and radio is another vital component of our campaign strategy. Ghana Badminton extended the reach of our sponsors public media sponsorship by including several station's multiple media platforms, such as digital, streaming, podcasts, newsletters in the media value campaign allowing companies to have saved almost 2.3 million Ghana Cedis in marketing spend during the period of the competition
On the climax day, the Chief Patron of the Sport, His Majesty King Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, the Ga Mantse and President of the Ga Traditional Council of Accra, Ghana in a speech read on his behalf was very elated and promise to assist in the growth of the sport, which had seen exponential development across the country.
About Ghana Badminton
Founded in 1962, Ghana Badminton is the governing body of Badminton in Ghana, responsible for representing, coordinating, administering, marketing, and developing the sport in close cooperation with our authorized and regulated Government Authority and Development partners.
As the national sports governing body for the Olympic Sport of Badminton, we do this by representing every member of the Badminton Community at the government level by providing a well-governed, compliant, and inclusive global sport and implementing a strategic plan for the national sport with our implementation partners at the national and international levels.
With Olympic success at the heart of our ambitions, we are investing our knowledge and expertise in rebuilding a quality future for our sport by strengthening and developing the domestic game and developing talent to achieve success on the international stage, inspiring the next generation of players and local fans and corporate community in line with the global vision of giving every child a chance to play for life.
We do this by leading and inspiring all stakeholders; delivering entertainment through exciting events to drive fan experience; and creating innovative, impactful, sustainable development initiatives.
With millions of Ghanaians playing yearly, Badminton looks forward to being the nation's favorite racket sport by 2024. We want to inspire everyone to play more, support louder and love Badminton, from this generation to the next, worthy of the world's fastest sport.
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