Taekwondo: Ghana fails to qualify for Olympics
Ghana's taekwondo contingent made up of, David Koney Adjetey, Terrence Asare, Danielle Pelham and Eunice Adadepo all failed to make it to the Rio Olympic Games which is slated for August this year after crashing out at the African Olympic Qualification Taekwondo Tournament in Agadir, Morocco.
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The much experienced Adjetey and Danielle were tipped to make it to the Olympics especially after winning silver and bronze respectively at the All Africa Games (AAG) in Brazzaville, Congo, last September.
US-based Adjetey lost to his Central African Republic (CAR) opponent in his qualifier while Italy-based Danielle lost her semi- finals encounter against her Tunisian opponent with Terrence also losing to a Libyan opponent, however, Eunice failed to make the weight as she was indisposed on arrival.
Adjetey won silver at the Las Vegas Open International Taekwondo Championship in Las Vegas, USA after his Bronze medal at the AAG and another silver and bronze during the 2013 Canada Open Taekwondo International Championship. He was ranked number 10 in the world and the 2014 African Senior Taekwondo Championship in Tunisia.
Briefing the Graphic Sports on the team’s arrival back in Ghana, the president of the Ghana Taekwondo Federation (GTF), Frederick Lartey Otu, expressed disappointment at the treatment meted out to the athletes in the other sporting disciplines and hoped that it would re-awaken government to begin to give the deserved support to disciplines such as taekwondo.
“It is sad we had to lose out but I tell you it is all because of lack of training camps to put our athletes in proper shape” he lamented
Nonetheless, he said, the GTF raised its own funds and with support from the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) and some of the athletes, it managed to participate in the tournament.
“It is sad Ghana assembled its best taekwondo athletes in Agadir but could not make it”, he bemoaned.
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He, however, gave the assurance the federation would work hard and continue to encourage the athletes to do their best to win honours for the country.