Ghana Weightlifting Federation begin preparations for Tokyo 2020

The Ghana Weightlifting Federation (GWF) say they have already begun preparations for the next Olympic Games in the year 2020 in Japan.

Ghana had a representative in the ongoing Olympic Games but failed to make it to the second round of his competition.

President of the Federation, Ben Nunoo-Mensah said he was not disappointed in his athlete’s performance because he was a young weightlifter competing with seniors.

“Christian Amoah is only 17 years old and has lots of weightlifting years ahead of him and is a prospect for the future,” he said.

The President added that GWF currently have lots of young athletes and with the right support from government and corporate bodies, they can make it in Tokyo.

“The average age of the 15 or so highly talented kids that we currently have is only 13 years. Christian, Richmond and Emefa, being the oldest, are only 17 years old. They have a lot of weightlifting years ahead of them, but the question is what we need to start doing now so that in four years when we send these young boys and girls to Tokyo 2020, we are not sending them as passengers but participants,” he said.

He added that the Federation would be competing in the African Junior and Youth Championship in Algiers as well as the IWF Junior and Youth and the Commonwealth Junior Youth and Senior Competitions in Malaysia in September and October respectively.

“This is where we need to start from; our strength in Africa and in the Commonwealth currently is at the junior and youth levels and we must do all that we can to make sure that our athletes go and start taking on the world from those levels where they have competitive advantages, build their self-confidence and start the journey to Tokyo 2020,” Mr. Nunoo-Mensah said.