'2018 Commonwealth Games Was Good Experience For The Future' - MOYS

Mr Elvis Adjei Baah, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS), has said that Ghana has gained a lot of experience from the just ended Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia adding that 'it was a good experience for the future'.

Team Ghana sent 72 athletes from 12 disciplines to the Games, but managed one medal at the end of the Games, having set a target for five medals.

Boxer Jessie Lartey was the only athlete who picked bronze in the 64kg Light Welterweight division despite his controversial defeat to Canada's Thomas Blumenfeld at the Oxenford Studios.

Locally based female sprinter, Hor Halutie was the only athlete to cruise into the 100m final but placed eighth out of eight athletes.

Mr Adjei Baah, addressing the media on the Team's arrival from the Games on Friday said, there were a lot of positives the country could focus on instead of, only considering the negatives.

He said that Ghana sent a lot of athletes who were participating on the international stage for the first time and the experience they gathered was one the country could be proud of in the future.

'We can pick positives from the Games. This has been a big exposure to most of the athletes who are debutants. If you look at somebody like Hor and the rest of the guys who were participating for the first time, they had a great experience from this Games which gives us something to count on going forward in Tokyo 2020 if we continue to maintain and groom these young talents,' he said.

'So yes there are negatives but we can't also overlook the positives out of the Games especially for the athletes went there for the first time,' he added.

Meanwhile, Ghana came 39th alongside Cook Islands, Norfolk Island, Seychelles and the Solomon Islands.

South Africa was the highest ranked African team with a total of 37 medals - 13 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze followed by Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya in that order.