Sports News of Tuesday, 6 September 2016

Source: thefinderonline.com

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Richard Akpokavie, board member(Ghana Olympic Committee) Richard Akpokavie, board member(Ghana Olympic Committee)

Pressure is gradually mounting on the current executives of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), led by Prof. Francis Dodoo, to organise an elective congress.

Information gathered by Finder Sports indicates that some federations are signing a petition to force the executives to call for an elective congress in November.

This is because the tenure of the current board has elapsed.

Federation heads pushing for the November congress say they have no issues with the current board, but they want to work with the constitution of the GOC.

Article eight of the GOC states that, “Members of the board shall be elected at the General Assembly (Congress) immediately following the Games of the Olympiad for a four-year term as per the election procedure mentioned in this constitution”.

With the above article, members of the GOC say there is no time to waste as they need to go for congress and prepare for the next Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo come 2020.

It would be recalled that a proposed congress by the GOC slated for Saturday, July 23, 2016 was called off after an injunction was placed on it by the Ghana Weightlifting Federation (GWF).

The GOC after their congress last year agreed to hold this year’s congress, which is their elective congress after the 2016 Olympic Games, but members were called for congress, which was not an elective one.

President of the Committee, Prof Francis Dodoo was said to have agreed with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Ghana to have their elective congress before April next year.

Members requested the President of the GOC to furnish them with the said communication with the IOC that sought to suggest the GOC can have their elective congress before April 2017, but checks made from the federations proved the evidence has not been provided.

Ghana had one of her worst performance at this year’s Olympic Games after presenting 16 athletes, with none of them making it to the second round of their respective events.