Ghana’s national Table Tennis team, the Black Loopers enjoyed a fantastic Independence Day on Saturday by totaling outclassing their Ivory Coast counterparts in an international friendly tournament. Ghana won all team events as well as players of the Black Loopers emerging triumphant in three of four individual competitions to carry the day by a distance.

Ghana beat Ivory Coast 3-0 in the Cadet Boys team event, were 3-1 victors in the Junior Boys division, won 3-2 in the Junior Girls play with the Ghana Senior Boys also winning 3-1, all over Ivory Coast.

“This does not necessarily mean that we are that good because this is just one country. But what is important is that it shows that we are improving and that the National Model team idea is a useful exercise,” Kwame Amporfi Jr, Secretary General of the Ghana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) told SportsInGhana.com at the end of the one-day contest.

The competition was sponsored by GTTA Chairman Ebo Bartels, Ivory Coast Table Tennis Federation and the National Sports Council with support from Tobinco Pharmaceuticals, J A Biney and Co Ltd and Mr. Samuel Kwadwo Adjei. Derek Abrefa beat Oba Cedrik of Ivory Coast to win the Senior Boys event with the Black Loopers’ Felix Lartey also finishing third. Isaac Davies, also of the Black Loopers, won the Cadet Boys competition beating Ivory Coast’s Ali Kandte into 2nd spot, followed by Ghana’s Desmond Nketiah in 3rd.

Samuel Akayide of Ghana came first in the Junior Boys category beating into second place Koussi Aungie of Ivory Coast with Mawutor Quarcoo ending in 3rd. Hougie Lea emerged the only Ivorian to chalk success with victory in the Junior Girls division over Ghana’s Celia Baah-Danso who came 2nd. Cynthia Kwabi of Ghana was third.

Despite the good performances by Team Ghana, Mr. Amporfi says there is a lot more hard work and investment needed to push the sport to great heights in the country. “This is where we are and it is going very well and we thank God for that. Now the executive will have to sit down and plan on the next step forward,” he concluded to SportsInGhana.com.

Credit: Prince Dornu-Leiku / SportsInGhana.com