?Ghana’s C’wealth weightlifting gold medalist to be buried Jan 11

Ghana’s late weightlifting gold medalist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, Majetie Fetrie will be laid to rest at Akure in Ondo State, Nigeria, next week Saturday.

Majetie died in Nigeria on December 24, last year.

According to the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) boss, who doubles as the President of the Ghana Weightlifting Federation, a delegation from Ghana, drawn from the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Authority (NSA) and the weightlifting outfit, is expected to attend the January 11 funeral.

Until his stunning demise, Majetie, who was a coach in the United States, was struck by a bout of stroke a little over a month ago – fatally affecting his mobility.

He decided to fly back to Nigeria – his ancestral home, to seek for a possible ‘efficacious’ cure, using scientific herbal medicine.

In the course of treatment, however, the naturalised Ghanaian weightlifter died in his sleep to the utter shock of the family, friends and the weightlifting community.

Previously known as Najeti Ogbogu, Majetie was invited to Ghana by then boss of the Ghana Weightlifting Association (GWA), Clifford Aboagye – the weightlifter having just retired prematurely from the sport in Nigeria after running into a spat with the game’s authorities in that country.

Upon recommendation, the determined Aboagye decided to invite him to Ghana to help build the fledgling sport.  Majetie obliged without any hesitation and landed in the country in 2002 where he met the likes of Michael Johnson Abotsi, Bernard Fetrie and Albert Abotsi among other prized weightlifters.

By dint of hard work, Majetie managed to build a fearsome team that embarked on an almost impossible mission at the 2003 Abuja All Africa Games. They were really not given a dog’s chance. However, the Ghanaians returned with three medals – two silver and bronze – all snatched by Johnson Abotsi with Bernard Fetrie missing bronze by inches.

Majetie then decided to take the bull by the horn and proceeded to win gold for Ghana at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Bernard Fetrie, whose family adopted Majetie, described his death as a great loss to the weightlifting world.

“He was absolutely incredible. For me, he was a legend. He had a lot in him to give, but sadly we didn’t take advantage of his quality and now we’ve lost him.”

This assertion was also expressed by Johnson Abotsi who described Majetie as “a legend we may never have again”.

?BY JOHN VIGAH

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