Let's go the Indian way
Boxing came so close to bringing Ghana honour, yet it was too far from living up to expectation, in the just concluded Delhi 2010 XIX Commonwealth Games in India. Ill-fate, near misses, inadequate preparation, as well as skeletal technical human resource robbed the spot of the opportunity to increase Ghana's medal haul in the 12-day high profile games in New Delhi.
Medal hopefuls like 64kg Light welterweight, Fredrick Lawson, captain Manyo Plange, 52kg Flyweight, Duke Micah, 46kg Lightweight, Benjamin Lamptey, 60kg Lightweight and others slipped along the way in their respective battles to win laurels for the country.
Of the nine boxers, it was only 91kg heavyweight, Awusone Yekini whose right shoulder injury denied him the opportunity to fight in the final, which could have earned the country a potential gold, judging from his previous impressive performance in the games.
Yekini was declared medically unfit and had to settle for a bronze medal in the 91kg heavyweight category. A probe into what might have accounted for the Black Bombers not-too-impressive performance has revealed inadequate preparation and the non-availability of an assistant coach as the bane of the team.
The language barrier between the boxers and Roberto Chavez, their Cuban coach, most of who are handicapped in the English language, did not also make things work for Ghana in the pugilistic sport. Ghana was the only country that had one coach at its corner, doing the work supposed to be done by two persons, all the participating countries presented two men at their corner- that is a coach and a technical man.
The President of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Federation (GABF), Mr. Ray Quarcoo, together with mining company GEODRILL Limited, Mr. Dave Harper ensured that the team returned home with good results.
The duo, together with some other Australian mining companies, drew a training programme in Australia, which the team embarked on ahead of the Delhi Games, where they made tremendous impact, finishing tops.
In his bid to ensure that the boxers stay focused, Mr Quarcoo camped the boxers at the Bridge Boxing Gym, at Ridge in an intensive residential camping exercise.
A probe into the success story of India in winning three gold and four silver in boxing, reveals that long term planning, adequate preparation and unflinching governmental and media support accounts for success.
According to the head coach of the Indian boxing side Gurbax Singh Sandhu, the Indian government sponsored him to Germany for three years to undertake a refresher course, ahead of the Games itself. 'My team and I have received massive support from the government of India as well as the corporate world; it's been a long journey. We did not start in a day,' said coach Sandhu.
He revealed that boxers have been in camp for one and half years, purposely being prepared for the Games, saying 'We started our preparation on time, and the performance of my boxers attest to that fact, we would have won more gold had it not been few mistakes on the part of the boxers, but I must say we have come a long way.'
Coach Sandhu also commended the India press for rallying behind boxing in the country, pointing out that 'The media has done a lot for Indian boxing, and they have given us all the publicity, and I can say that it is the second popular sport in the country, behind cricket.'
Mr. Quarcoo is of the view that government should take a critical look at the sport that has brought the country so much fame, by throwing its financial weight behind it to improve its dwindling fortunes, as he and the Federation strive to end the era of ad hoc preparation before tournaments.