Ghana Harvesting Medals In Nigeria
Hard work pays off it is said and the saying could not be more accurate than in relation to the CANA Zone 2 Junior Swimming Championships for West and Central Africa in Lagos, Nigeria that that took place on the 27th to the 29th of October.
The Junior National Team of Ghana picked 27 medals, 12 gold, nine silver and six bronze, in total during the championships held at Nigeria´s newly renovated National Stadium. 22 gold, silver and bronze medals were collected during the first two days in the categories G1, age 13-14 years, and G2, age 15-16 years.
The team did not stop there but continued their harvest during the third and final day of the championships. In 100m Butterfly Nii Kotei Armah grabbed his second individual medal, a bronze medal, in the Boys G1 category.
This was followed by a relay gold in the 4X50 metres Mixed Medley Relay G1 in which Rebecca Asare, Maayaa Ayawere, Papa Yaw Poku- Dwumoh and Team Captain Kow Jackson forced the Nigerian team to accept their defeat.
As the afternoon session commenced Kow Jackson took the lead and brought another gold medal to the Ghanaian camp in 100 metres Freeclass G1 Boys. Maayaa Ayawere followed suit and touched first in the 50 metres Breaststroke Girls G1, bringing yet another gold medal to the squad.
The tournament closed with the final event 4x50 metres Mixed Medley Relay G2, which the spectators followed with excitement as Team Ghana only had one swimmer, Ryan Degraft-Ackun, in the G2 age category, and therefore had to include the younger G1 swimmers Kow Jackson, Rebecca Asare and Maayaa Ayawere to form a team for the event that finally landed them with a silver medal.
This is the first time Ghanaian swimmers have won medals in a FINA sanctioned championship and in addition to the impressive harvesting of medals numerous Championship Records were broken by Team Ghana. Jackson, the Team Captain, set new records in Boys G1 200 metre Freeclass and 100 metre Breaststroke while Ms Ayawere broke the 100 metres Freeclass and 50 metres Butterfly records for Girls G1. Another Ghanaian swimmer, Papa Yaw Poku-Dwumoh, holds the new Championship Record in 50 metres Backstroke Boys G1.
As part of the closing ceremony Kow Jackson received the award for Best Swimmer Boys G1 while the efforts made by Maayaa Ayawere landed her with the award for Best Swimmer Girls G1. The Ghanaian swim team finished second with the host country Nigeria taking the first position, while Senegal grabbed the third place.