Ghana Sports Excellence Awards: Will it be Gyan or Bissah?

Four of Ghana’s premier athletes — Black Stars skipper, Asamoah Gyan, Olympic gold medalist,  Martha Bissah, 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, Razak Abugri, and professional boxer Patrick Allotey — will go head to head on Friday for the prestigious honour of Best Sports Personality at the maiden edition of the Ghana Sports Excellence Awards (GSEA) at the British Council in Accra.

The quartet, like other nominees of the GSEA, have been nominated for the top gong in recognition of their excellent performances for the various national teams over the period January 1, 2014 - November 20, 2014, with Al-Ain striker Gyan and  17-year-old Bissah the favourites to win the much coveted award.

Another award which will be keenly contested at 4.00 p.m. is the Best Coach honour where Bissah’s coach, Isaac Nii Odartey Lamptey, Kumasi Asante Kotoko coach, Mas-Ud Didi Dramani, Black Stars assistant/Local Black Stars coach, Maxwell Konadu and Joseph Nii Dodoo of the Ghana Judo Association will vie for supremacy.

The Best Female Athlete category will see Bissah vying for her second laurel but she will have to fend off competition from weightlifter, Julianna Arko, track-star, Mathilde Boateng and goalie, Sadia Asare while Patrick Allotey, Razak Abugri and Asamoah Gyan are joined by golfing sensation, Vincent Torgah, in the race for the Best Male Athlete.

Emmanuella Aglagoh, Joseph Lamptey, David Laryea and A.S. Malik will compete for the Best Referee while Kwesi Nyantakyi, President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Peter Zwennes,President of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) and Joe Kpenge, the Director General of the National Sports Authority are competing for the Best Sports Administrator.

The best sporting association will be a toss-up between the GFA, the GBA, the Ghana Golf Association and the Ghana Hockey Association.

The awards will also recognise the achievements of luminaries, volunteers and institutions, who assisted in the development of Ghanaian sports.

Ghana’s leading sports mewspaper, Graphic Sports, has been nominated in the Best Print Media House category while Emmanuel Quaye and Kweku Zurek of the Graphic Communications Group Limited are in the running for the Best Photographer and Best Print Reporter, respectively.

For setting the record as the top African goalscorer in the history of the FIFA World Cup, Asamoah Gyan will be picking up a special Record Breaker award with Azumah Nelson scooping the Boxing Legend award after being inducted into the World Boxing Council (WBC) Hall of Fame late last year.

Organisers of the awards, Hallmark Plus, are expected to hand out a total of 40 awards.