Author: Sammy Heywood Okine
Team Ghana is returning home in batches after competing at the 23rd Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and placing 30th on the medals table.
The first batch, including boxing bronze medallist Amadu Mohammed, has arrived.
Para-athlete Zinabu Issah won silver in the shot put, while Amadu Mohammed won a bronze in boxing to become the most outstanding athlete for Ghana at the Games.
Ghana presented 40 athletes to take part in athletics, boxing, cycling, judo, swimming, weightlifting and para-sports.
The media was not informed about the number of officials who accompanied the team. However, in boxing, the team had four coaches, with the President of the Ghana Boxing Federation (GBA) also represented.
Boxing has always been on the podium for Ghana, but it seems this time the Black Bombers could not meet the expectations of the people of Ghana and boxing fans.
In 2022, at the Games in Birmingham, Ghana won three medals in boxing, including silver and bronze. In 2018, the entire contingent won one bronze medal in boxing.
This year in Glasgow, things did not go as expected, and head trainer Dr. Ofori Asare declared that he was not a magician who could conjure medals, adding that preparations had not been good and that the boxers were not getting their kits right.
For the President of the Federation, Dauda Fuseni, he did not want to make any promises but hoped for an improvement in performance and the number of medals won.
The President of the Commonwealth Games Association, Ghana, Richard Akpokavie, was also initially optimistic about the preparations but must be disappointed, like all Ghanaians, because the team did not jell.
However, in boxing, India won the most medals, with 10, comprising seven gold and three silver, to top the standings. England placed second with four gold, three silver and three bronze medals.
Among the African nations, Namibia did well to grab three medals—one silver and two bronze. Lesotho had two bronze medals, Zambia had two bronze medals, and Ghana had one bronze medal.
In the total medals haul, Nigeria was the best-performing African nation, collecting a total of 24 medals comprising 10 gold, seven silver and seven bronze. South Africa had 28 medals, with seven gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze, while Kenya won three gold, four silver and five bronze medals.
Australia were the overall champions of the 2026 Commonwealth Games with 171 medals, made up of 70 gold, 45 silver and 56 bronze. England were second with 110 medals—29 gold, 45 silver and 36 bronze—while Canada were third with 62 medals, comprising 19 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze. India took fourth position with 39 medals: 13 gold, 17 silver and nine bronze.
Generally, it was not a good showing by Ghana, known as a sporting nation, despite the fact that some individual athletes achieved their personal bests.
These included swimmer Abeiku Jackson, who broke a national record, and para-athlete Hayford Addai, who reached the 100-metre final and placed fifth on his first Commonwealth Games appearance.
Team general captain Joe Paul Amoah reached the 200-metre final but placed seventh, while the 4×100-metre squad’s fourth-place finish in their race saw them miss the bronze medal by seconds.
Observations after the 2026 Commonwealth Games indicate that there were lapses in planning and preparations, with the concentration seemingly placed mostly on the Ghana House project and music by Dope Nation rather than on the athletes’ preparations and the main purpose of the Games.
