Ghana's Karate Do Team return from 2018 Africa Championship in Rwanda

The Ghana National Karate Do team of five athletes and three officials who participated in the Africa Karate Championship in Kigali, Rwanda from August 29 to September 3, 2018, have returned home.

Ghana team participated in both kata and kumite and in both group events, Ghana lost out after the second round, making them miss the medal zone.

25 African countries took part in the exciting senior and junior championship which was won by Egypt, and Algeria came second. Morocco was third, South Africa was fouth and Cameroun placed fifth.

Rwanda got the Fair play trophy and handed over the UFAK flag Botswana, the next host.

President of the Ghana Federation, Melvin Brown said the competition was of a very high level, and many nations are getting serious with the sport. He expressed that even though Ghana did not progress to the medal zone, the event was a great exposure to his team.

He noted that financial problems and lack of exposure was the main problems facing his federation, and hoped that government and other corporate bodies would come to the aid of Karate-do.

He said Karate has been approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to take part in the next Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan and appealed to well-meaning Ghanaians to support sports.

Team Ghana comprised Emmanuel Adjei (75kg), Victor Lartey (Kata), Felix Annan (+84kg), Dickson Acolatse (-60kg) and Haruna Yusif (Kata & Kumite 50kg).

The other officials were Frank Danso Bekoe (Coach) and Patrick Anyidoho Cofie (Secretary General).

Melvin Brown thanked Citydia Group, Bond Finance and the Ministry of Youth & Sports for sponsoring their trip.