Ofori Asare, Head Coach of Ghana’s national boxing team, the Black Bombers, says poor officiating in their various boxing qualifiers accounted for their inability to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ghana would not present any boxers for the Paris Olympics following another disastrous qualifying campaign in Thailand, where all seven boxers failed to secure qualification.
The Black Bombers team, together with their female counterparts, participated in numerous qualification encounters in Senegal and Italy, but couldn’t grab any slots for the Paris Olympics.
Speaking upon their arrival at Kotoka International Airport, Coach Asare said the qualifying experience was difficult and the officiating played a part in their non-qualification.
“I can say that officiating was not fair on the African side, and we don’t have enough officiating officials on the continent, and in Ghana, not at all.
“One of the boxers (Theophilus Allotey) should have qualified, but we were surprised that some of the judges scored against him, so it is a sad development,” he said.
Coach Asare further noted that solving the problems of officiating on the local scene will prove crucial to Ghana’s boxing future at the Olympic level.
“We have to focus on building the capacity of our officiating officials and not only concentrate on our boxers. We need to have our men as part of the judges because that is why we always fall short,” coach Asare stated.
Both the men’s and women’s boxing national teams will now look forward to preparing themselves for future tournaments after their Olympic dreams have been shattered.
