Other Sports of Saturday, 18 May 2013

Source: Sammy Heywood Okine

Kickboxing - Ghana to Host Australia and Indonesia

Ghana’s Kickboxing Ambassador, Lawrence Nyanyo Nmai has disclosed to sportsinghana.com and ghanaweb.com that Ghana will host Australia and Indonesia in an international kickboxing competition to be staged at the rlg Hathiramini sports hall in Accra on June 22, 2013.

Speaking to your truly at the Accra Sports Stadium, he said plans and preparations have reached an advanced stage and all the kick boxers who will represent Ghana are training very seriously to win and make the nation proud.

He said Ghana has very good kick boxers but lack of competition often makes them rusty or quit the sport at an early age.

According to Nmai who is the President of the World Kickboxing Federation (WKF) – Ghana and the light heavy weight champion of Ghana, the event will be one of the biggest sports shows ever seen at the sports hall and believes the media will give them the much needed support and mileage to sell the programme.

He noted that a crack team made up of experienced and upcoming kick boxers will star for Ghana. He named some of them as Isaac Doku, Stephen Bruce, Ebenezer Acheampong, Francis Dodoo and Isaac Aikins.

Lawrence Nmai who has been engaged in some international fights outside Ghana said kick boxers in Ghana need exposure and the June 22 event is one of the tournaments to keep the players in shape and make them active.

He lamented that the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) does not want to recognize their achievements and reward or honour them accordingly, but despite all the frustrations and things that can demotivate a sportsman; they are still training daily and motivating themselves to be on top.

The kick boxing champion urged corporate bodies to support kickboxing since it is an international sport and has many followers all over the world.

“We want to pay our dues to the sport that we love most. Not every Ghanaian will love football or boxing or basketball. We love kickboxing and that is where we can do our best to put Ghana on the world map. We want support from the media and companies to bring out the best in ourselves. We want to appeal to the sports minister and other sponsors who want kickboxing to flourish in Ghana to come to our aid” he said.