Members of the Golden Arms
The national armwrestling team, the Golden Arms, over the weekend added to the all-time medal haul by any federation after grabbing 18 medals at the 10th Africa Armwrestling Championships in Bamako, Mali.
The Golden Arms, who went into the 2019 championship as the defending champion, proudly managed 11 gold, five silver and two bronze medals to secure third position out of 12 countries.
After vehemently protesting the entries by the host Mali and being denied playing in its best selected category, Ghana played in the two-day championship under protest.
Grace Commey defeated a long list of Malians and a Guinean to win double gold in the Women’s Junior and Senior 50kg category and placed fourth in the Youth 65kg, while Prince Afum and Aziz Abdul Wahab also won double gold.
80+Kg puller Mariam Kadri Moro also won double gold for Ghana, but the female battle of the event was between Nigeria’s contender and police officer Grace Minta. The latter fought an entertaining and fierce battle to beat the Nigerian and won a gold and silver for Ghana in the 80kg right and left.
Ghana’s medal list as follows:
Grace Karley Commey (four gold medals), Mariam Kadiri Moro (two gold & 1 bronze), Prince Affum ( two gold medals), Grace Minta (one gold & 1 silver) Abdul Aziz Wahab ( one gold & one bronze medal), Elliot Lamptey Nelson (two silver medals) Isaac Nii Amugi ( one silver) and Edward Asamoah.
Country Ranking
1st Mali, 2nd Egypt, 3rd Ghana. 4th Nigeria, 5th Guinea
6th Senegal, 7th Togo, 8th Cote d’Ivoire, 9th Benin
10th Cameroon, 11th Niger, 12th Burkina Faso
Team Ghana has since returned home.