Kickboxer turned chief still committed to sport's development

The love and wish to raise, develop and promote the sport of

kickboxing to rival other disciplines in Ghana is one that will continue to run

in the blood of ace kickboxer Joseph Mingle, even if he can’t compete himself

no more.



The Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) 2010 award

winner now responds to the name Nii Mankralo of Sakaman, upon his enstoolment as

traditional chief of Sakaman in Accra but even if it means he can’t compete

again, Nii Mankralo has exclusively told All Sports that he will continue to

champion the cause of the sport until the day it is as popular as any other

sport in this country.



“Kickboxing is a very nice sport and I am still committed to

it, I’m still training even though as a chief I can’t compete. It’s not

dangerous at all, it takes training to make it easy to fight.

“Our sports administrators only think about football but

take kickboxing when we went to Egypt for an international competition, we

returned with 5 gold, seven silver and 2 bronze. I think we are good in

kickboxing so the government and big companies should come to our aid and we

can unearth more talents to win glories for Ghana,” Nii Mankralo stated.

One of the pioneers of kickboxing as an organized sport in

this country before it was fully recognized association five years ago, Nii

Mankralo has fought in several international tournaments.

Among them, he boasts experience in international fights in

Egypt, Austria, Scotland, and Nigeria and returned with a bronze from an

international competition in Scotland last year that featured over 300

competitors.

Even as he sits on the Sakaman throne, Nii Mankralo of

Sakaman says his skills and expertise in the field is still very much available

to not just the Ghanaian kickboxing fraternity but the society at large.

“I’m also willing to help train all the security services

and all others including schools and students especially girls to protect

themselves against rape and other bad eventualities,” Nii Mankralo confided.Credit: