11 countries confirm participation in Africa Games armwrestling
Eleven countries have signed up to confirm their participation in the armwrestling event at the 13th Africa Games in Accra.
They include host Ghana, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Egypt, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Togo.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Armwrestling Federation of Africa (AFA) and was signed by its President, Mr Charles Osei Asibey, ahead of the event fixed for March 8-24 in Accra.
“With few weeks to the commencement of the continent’s biggest sporting event, host Ghana would be joined by Benin, Cameroon, Central Africa, Egypt, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo and more countries to compete for laurels in armwrestling,” he said.
The event is expected to produce a world class and memorable event on the back of the successful hosting of the 12th Africa Armwrestling Championship in June in 2023 with the same used as the qualifier for the Africa Games.
Armwrestling, traditional, very popular and easy to play game has over the years gained recognition as a leading sport on the continent following the huge investment made by the body.
The Africa Games armwrestling competition will take place at the Cedi Hall, University of Ghana, Legon from March 13-16.
Mr Asibey expressed excitement on how fast the sport has caught up in Africa, having worked so hard with his team to make armwrestling a competitive sport code at the Africa games.
He commended the Ghana government, Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS), the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Association of Africa Sports Confederation (AASC), Africa Union Sports Council (AUSC) and assured that adequate preparations were in place to give athletes, officials and all key stakeholders and patrons of armwrestling a hospitable reception and high level sports performance during the games.
“The vision is to make armwrestling the sport of choice by encouraging participation and enhancing development on the continent. We are on course as we rewrite another history by playing in the Africa Games,” he said.
Athletes will compete in 55kg, 60kg, 65kg, 75kg, 85kg, 90kg, 100kg and +100kg for men and 55kg, 60kg, 65kg, 70kg, 80kg and +80kg for women
BY TIMES SPORTS REPORTER
