The National Para Badminton Team made a giant milestone of success for Ghana, last week by winning 1 Silver and 4 Bronze medals at the Uganda Para International Championships, the second-best result by an Africa country at the international Championships.
135 players from 18 Countries included Scotland, Russia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Benin, Brazil, Zambia, Egypt, Uganda, India, Germany, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Congo, Italy, Mozambique, France, and Canada took part in the 10-day international event.
The five Ghanaian athletes namely Mohammed Azumah Salih, Ampofo Juliana, Ampofowaa Akosua, Abubakar Adizatu, and Awudu Asana gave national and continental bravery, when they won the podium medals even to the admiration of the 60 Indian shuttlers, including Tokyo Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat, who also won gold for his country in his event.
Abubakar Adizatu won Silver is her WD – WH 1 – WH 2 category, whilst Juliana Ampofo and Asana Awudu also won Bronze. Abubakar Adizatu again won Bronze in the Women Singles event, having faced the experienced 9th ranked world champion Ammu Mohan from India in the semi-finals. Ampofowaa Akosua, the stalwart of the team, also won Bronze in the Mix Double category.
The international tournament also witnessed a national coaching education course for Mohammed Azumah Salih, where he also took part in a National Level 1 Classifier Workshop educational session- building up progress for Ghana to have its first para badminton certified coaching access programme.
Commenting on this achievement, the President of Ghana Badminton shared, “we are excited about this achievement from these athletes, who excelled and made Ghana proud under very difficult circumstances. The Badminton World Federation have been instrumental in this achievement by supporting these females through the Female Participation Programme since 2017, thoroughly showing us that, badminton is a sport for all, meaning that it is accessible to men and women of all ages and for people with a wide range of impairments. We will not rest on these laurels but continue to expand our Para badminton country strategy paper on Para badminton’s involvement towards 2023 African Paralympic Games and 2024 France Paralympic Games.”
We recognise para badminton as a Paralympic sport and the sport was present at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) recognises the Badminton World Federation (BWF) as the world governing body for Para badminton. Ghana Badminton promotes and develops Para badminton in the regions, including delivering a nationwide Disability Coaching Module from January 2022 as part of our coaching education programme.
Yesterday, the team made a beautiful presentation to the Ashanti Regional Sports Development Director of all the beautiful African medals won during the event.
Para badminton athletes compete in men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles, where they are classified into one of six different sport classes to ensure fairness in competition.
ENDS~
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About Ghana Badminton Association-www.ghanabadminton.org
We are Ghana Badminton, the Governing Body of Badminton in Ghana formed in 1962 and affiliated with the Badminton Confederation of Africa, International Olympic Committee, and International Paralympic Committee through the Badminton World Federation
The unique qualities of badminton make it accessible and enjoyable for anyone and everyone. And we work collaboratively with our partners and stakeholders to provide traditional and innovative opportunities for all to be involved; from Basic, Senior High and Tertiary School programs to seniors and Veterans social badminton, from School, community, and regional clubs and our national class coaching development to the delivery of our major events.
With Olympic success at the heart of our ambitions, we are investing our knowledge and expertise in rebuilding build 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.
With thousands of Ghanaians playing every year, badminton is looking forward to being the nation’s favourite racket sport by 2022. We want to inspire everyone to play more, support louder and love badminton, from this generation to the next as the world’s fastest exercise and racket sport.
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