Osei, Amoah excelled in international weightlifiting championships
The Ghana Weightlifting Federation (WTF) is moving into full gear as it prepares for its boardmeeting and annual congress in January and February respectively this year.
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The gathering will also open the floodgates for the federation to begin preparation in earnest towards its participation in a number of domestic and international competitions outlined for the year.
These include the First Indomie Youth and Junior Championship which will be held in Ghana, the Arnold International Championship in Columbus, USA, the Australian Open International Tournament also in Brisbane, Australia, a test event for the Rio Olympics in April and the African Rio Olympic qualifier in May, among other competitions.
Last year the WTF made a lot of inroads as it unearthed new and young talents to participate in the sport. The talent identification exercise will also continue side by side with the various programmes earmarked by the federation for this year as it is eager to produce at least an African and Commonwealth Junior and Youth Champions in line with some of the objectives of its four-year development programme.
It, therefore, intends to institute the requisite measures to extend the sport to other parts of the country, such as the Ashanti, Eastern, Central and the Western regions, in its quest to make the discipline a national sport.
This effort to bring on many athletes under the weightlifting umbrella last year also cumulated in the formation of over 10 weightlifting clubs across the Greater Accra Region, as it targeted members of the security agencies, but with particular spotlight on the development of the youth.
Prior to the formation of these clubs, the Weightlifting Federation set up physical and administrative structures in the previous years to create much awareness as far as the practice of the discipline and widening of its scope to rope in more participation were concerned.
Some of the beneficiary communities, included Nima, Odododiodio area and Osu.
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In terms of competitions, the federation last year took part in the International World Weightlifting Championship, as well as the All African Games (AAG) in Congo Brazzaville in June.
The UK-based Ghanaian weightlifter, Forrester Osei, who is ranked 34th in the world, set a new national record in the 94-KG category. Christian Amoah, who is now ranked 39th, made a mark for himself and the country at the competition in the 85-KG category, while coaches for the sport, including Coach Abubakar Taylor, also benefitted from training programmes in Kenya and in Ghana.