The Ghana Amateur Boxing Federation (GBF) has confirmed that Olympic bronze medalist; Samuel Takyi is not part of the team representing the country at the African Olympic Games qualifiers in Senegal.
GBF president Bernard Quartey told the media the boxer made some demands that he wanted to be met before he joined the Black Bombers.
According to him, Takyi demanded that the cash reward pledged to him by President Akufo-Addo when he won bronze at the last Olympics be paid to him before he joined the team.
Quartey said the 22-year-old boxer has been dropped from the team for the Olympic Games qualifiers.
“He was also demanding the money that was pledged by the president [Akufo-Addo] is $20,000 which was supposed to be used as a developmental fee for him,” the GBF president said, as quoted by Ghanaweb.
“Secondly, he demanded that before he joined the team, he should be given an Olympic Scholarship. These are the conditions he demanded but we don’t have the power to dictate it. He is welcome to join but not with conditionalities.
“Looking at the situation, the coach thought it wise that he was not prepared psychologically. We are going with this team and if someone in his weight qualifies it means we have to find another weight for him at the next qualifies.”
In 2021, Takyi secured bronze at the Tokyo Olympics after losing to Duke Regan in the men’s semi-final featherweight event.
Despite losing the semi-final bout to Regan, Takyi entered the history books after ending Ghana’s 29-year wait for an Olympic medal.
The West African nation had only won four medals since the inception of the Olympic Games, of which three came from boxing.
Takyi’s heroics in Tokyo, therefore, made him only the fifth Ghanaian (if you consider the 1992 Black Meteors as a collective unit) Olympic bronze medalist.
Speaking to the Tokyo Games medalist, he said he wrote a letter to the GBF concerning his inclusion in the team, but he was not invited. He agreed making some demands but noted that it was not for the GBF President to answer because it was the Ministry of Youth & Sports who were supposed to deal with his $20,000 development money.
He expressed his disappointment in the leadership of the GBF as he had been waiting for over six months to hear from them.
Meanwhile, UK-based Ghanaian boxer Freezy Macbones has joined the Black Bombers team heading to Senegal on Wednesday for the African Olympic Games qualifiers.
