2020 in Review: Jonathan Mensah is GhanaWeb Sports Personality of the Year

Sports, like many other sectors, took a heavy hit from the coronavirus and its after-effects.

From March until now that lockdown restrictions have been eased, sports is still yet to fully recover from the pandemic.

Federations and sports event organizers have been shelved or cancelled due to the pandemic.

Despite these challenges, some Ghanaian sports personalities did exceedingly well and gave the nation some positive reviews on the world stage.

In boxing, we can talk about Wasiru Mohammed, Richard Commey and Duke Micah who all had bouts in the year under review though they could not bring home any world title.

Athletics was relatively quiet as most athletes in Ghana and abroad had their qualification competitions scrapped.

Football also witnessed some gains with the likes of Partey, Kudus, Jordan Ayew and Andre Ayew shedding positive lights on the nation with their exploits for their respective clubs.

However, one Ghanaian sports person who stood out and deserves the award of GhanaWeb Sports Personality of the Year is Jonathan Mensah.

The centre back led Columbus Crew to win the Major League Soccer title, becoming the first Ghanaian to achieve the feat.

Jonathan Mensah has not only become an ambassador for the country on the field but also off the field.

His attitude has earned him plaudits with the head coach of Columbus Crew talking him up as potential presidential candidate.

“I think he’s an unbelievable person, one of the best people you’ll ever meet, just big heart, really good guy, really special leader,” the Columbus Crew coach said.

“He hasn’t seen his wife in 10 months and I couldn’t imagine being 10 months without my wife. The fact he goes home alone every day and comes to training and rolls the sleeves up, he’s just unbelievable.

“I joke with him he’s going to be the president of Ghana one day. He has that type of quality.”

He was also named in the Major League Soccer’s team of the season and is a contender for Columbus Crew best player award.

He has since 2017 made 100 appearances (97 starts) for the Club, while scoring three goals and providing one assist. The Black & Gold captain made his milestone 100th regular-season appearance on Decision Day in a 2-1 home victory against Atlanta United on November 8, 2020.

For the Black Stars, Jonathan Mensah has been capped 58 times and was part of the Black Satellites team that won the 2010 World Youth Championship.