Sports News of Thursday, 18 June 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

The inside story of how a Ghanaian footballer drowned in a Denmark pool

Adom died at age 20 Adom died at age 20

It was all joy when news hit his home that he has finally been issued a Schengen visa.

His sixth application has, unlike the previous five, been successful so his family had reasons to jubilate as it signals a major leap in his pursuit for stardom in the world’s biggest sporting activity.

What they never for once dreamt of or envisaged was that one Tuesday evening, a WhatsApp message will trigger mourning in their household.

The content of that viral WhatsApp message which was first seen by a resident in Konongo was that their son, Komla Adom has drowned in a pool in Denmark.

The cold cruel hands of death have been laid on their 20-year-old and he has transitioned from this earth to the world of the ancestors.

Owner of Sporting Club Accra, the Ghanaian club he last played for narrates how the incident happened.

As per the account given by Paul Scholes, CEO of Konongo-based Golden Palace where Adom began his football career, official Denmark police briefing indicates that he died fifteen minutes after he was taken from the pool.

“According to the police, Adom came with a friend to the pool at about 7pm to swim. His friend was on one side and he was swimming on the other side. The friend after some minutes started shouting that he can’t find his friend so a rescue team came and after 15 minutes they found him. He wasn’t dead when they found him but he was weak so they tried to resuscitate him but he died on the way to the hospital. I have known him since he was seven and he never liked swimming. I have been to places with him and he never swam.”

His elder brother reveals how the family got the news of the demise of their beloved Adom

“I work with Ghana Water Company so I was at work when my wife called that he has heard that my brother has died abroad. Adom was quite popular so almost everyone knew him. One young man saw the news on a WhatsApp group and wondered what might have happened to him. So one woman who heard the boy speak asked him and the woman came to our house to enquire from us. I don’t use a WhatsApp phone so he usually contacts me through a friend's phone. So I called one friend who after 30 minutes placed me on a conference call with his manager in Denmark who confirmed the rumors.