The Ghana Taekwondo Federation (GTF) has given indication to participate in this year’s World Taekwondo Championship scheduled for Mexico.
But, that, according to the GTF President, Mr. Frederick Lartey Otu, requires a lot of hard work from the athletes and support from the corporate sector.
“We have to compete in a number of high profile competitions to stay very active and competitive with the biggest platform being the World Championship.”
Speaking to the Times Sports in an interview yesterday, Mr. Otu, after supervising Ghana’s participation at the just ended 2022 Niger Open Taekwondo Championship and the fifth Africa Para Taekwondo Championship in Niger, said there are a lot more championship for Team Ghana to participate in.
The aim is to enable the players earn points to enhance their qualification to the high profile tournament earmarked for the year.
In Africa, he mentioned five more championships the GTF was working hard to send representatives to compete.
They include the Botswana Open Championship organized by the Botswana Taekwondo Federation (BTF) and slated for June 4 and the Africa Senior Kyorugi Championship to be hosted by the AFTU in Kigali on July 16-17 and opened to athletes on the continent.
The rest are the Senegal Open organized by the Senegal Taekwondo Federation in Senegal on October 15, the Egypt Open Championship organized by the Egypt Taekwondo Federation (ETF) to be held in Cairo on July 29-31 and the Algeria Open organized by the Algerian Taekwondo Federation in Algiers on May 5-7, 2022.
According to Mr.Otu, it was important for Ghana to compete in all these tournaments to enhance the chances of the athletes, adding that, “good ranking position is an assurance of better seeding at subsequent championships.”
Commenting on Ghana’s participation in the Niger events held last week, the GTF president said they were good platforms for the athletes and was an assurance for a brighter future and Ghana’s medal haul.
“It is a good preparation for the for the Ghana 2023 Africa Games, however, we need more of such tournament, including the world championship.”
Mr Otu hinted that the national team will soon resume training to be ready for the Africa championships for the year.
BY ANDREW NORTEY
