Other Sports of Tuesday, 29 April 2014

Source: Sammy Heywood Okine

SWAG to honour Ben Nunoo-Mensah

Former Chef de Mission of Ghana’s team to the 2014 Commonwealth Games Ben Nunoo-Mensah is among the tall list of personalities and organisations to be honoured at the 39th Sports Writers Awards Gala Night at the State House in Accra.

Ben Nunoo-Mensah who resigned as Treasurer of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) and leader of Team Ghana to Glasgow 2014, but clinched on to his position as President of the Ghana Weightlifting Association (GWA) has been recognized and would be rewarded for steering his Association to win laurels for the nation.

His creativity and management skills have yielded to the construction of a gym at the Accra Sports stadium for weightlifting and other purposes which earned him the Association Chairman of the Year.

Under his leadership Ghana won several medals in weightlifting in 2013 and the weightlifters continue to make history as two Ghanaians including nominee for SWAG Sports Personality Juliana Arkoh have been selected to participate in special qualifiers for international competition.

Ben Nunoo-Mensah told yours truly in an exclusive interview that the development of weightlifting is very dear to his heart and he wants to leave a legacy as one of the people who were offered the opportunity to manage a Sports Association in Ghana.

He noted that sports criticisms should be constructive and not discouraging because it is not easy finding funds to enable sports men and women who have trained hard and wish to compete internationally.

He lauded the positive media guys and prayed that those who just talk for the nothing would change their style for a better Ghana.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) has appointed Mr. Chris Essilfie as its new Chef de Mission for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

Mr. Essilfie’s appointment took immediate effect, following the resignation of Mr. Ben Nunoo-Mensah as Treasurer and Chef de Mission for the Commonwealth Games. The decision was taken at the GOC’s meeting on Monday 17th March, 2014.

The SWAG Awards ceremony will see other distinguished sportsmen and women being honored. c