The first-ever Grappling Ghana Open IGF GI championship was held in Accra at the Aliko International School inside the old UTC, near the Korle Lagoon on Saturday, June 26, 2021, as over 32 athletes contested in 5 weight categories to get the chance to be selected to represent the country in international competitions.
The one-day program was presented by the Professional Combat Sports Association of Ghana (PROCSAG) and was held under the regulations of the International Grappling Federation (IGF).
The event was open to participants across the length and breadth of Ghana as the push to establish, promotes, and develops the combat sport intensifies.
The competing athletes were from Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Ashanti, and Greater Accra where the sport is already nurturing.
Winners after competition in various grappling techniques including all chokes and locks like ankle lock, leg bar, neck bar, side Americana, anaconda choke, neck choke, and naked choke will have the opportunity to represent Ghana in a Grappling world championship in Spain in September, with many others to come before the end of this year.
Mr. Evans Bernie-Mensah, an Executive Director of PROCSAG talked about the bright future of the sport in this country and urged corporate Ghana and the media to join the bandwagon because of the immense economic and tourism potential the sport promises “
This is a sport that everybody should push to be a part of because it will bring opportunities to the entire nation than a lot of and even combat sports because we started it less than three years ago but the opportunities that we have got to participate in world championships to represent Mother Ghana is far greater than many sporting disciplines, Mr. Bernie-Johnson told the media “We have been practicing this sport in Ghana for three years now and there is a clear indication of its rising growth and we have so many young athletes who are learning fast and ready to take on their counterparts in international competitions,” said Mr. Bernie-Johnson.
Another Executive Director of the Ghanaian governing body of the sport who was immense is Gabrie Akosah Bobbie, in charge of compilations of the scorecards for all contests on the occasion.
Medals and certificates were presented to all winners, with the certificates even extended to those who finished outside the medals bracket.
In the end, the organizers expressed satisfaction with the championship and reiterated their appeal to the government, corporate bodies as well as individuals who have the sport at heart to lend them support and helping hand through sponsorships and funding.
It’s not like other sports, but some have been around even more than ten years.
This is a great sport with a great opportunity to anybody who will just find interest and participate, there is a lot of income to be made by the athletes and also bring in foreign exchange through payment of taxes on their international earnings and even more,” he explained “
We also call on corporate bodies and the government to support us because we don’t get any sponsorship at all. It’s us the executives who just keep on day by day contributing to the financing of these activities because we know the future is bright” he appealed.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Evans Boateng
