Ghana projects record breaking 25 athletes for Rio 2016

Ghana’s Rio 2016 Chef de Mission has projected that the country will be represented by a record-breaking 25 athletes at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio, Brasil.

Chris Essilfie, Chef De Mission of Team Ghana at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games said in an interview that “We‘re still hoping to qualify more and if there are funds to do that we could qualify more athletes to the Games”.

He added that, “After meeting with the Federation’s heads and listening to what they have on paper, it is clear we are going to qualify at least 25 athletes to the Games.”

Essilfie was confirmed as Ghana’s Chef de Mission in August of last year having been appointed to the same role at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Ghana won two bronze medals at Glasgow 2014; Razak Abugiri in the men’s 60 kilogram judo competition and Abdul Omar in the men’s flyweight boxing tournament.

The country made its Olympic debut at Helsinki in 1952 and has won a total of four medals, a silver and three bronzes.

Its last medal came at Barcelona in 1992 when its men’s football team won bronze.

Ghana won two gold medals at last year’s African Games in Brazzaville through Wisdom Na Ajdrago and George Darko in the men’s doubles tennis, and its women’s football team, who beat Cameroon 1-0 in the final.

If Chris Essilfie’s prediction comes to fruition, it will comfortably break the West African nation’s record of nine athletes sent to both Beijing 2008 and London 2012.