A splendid cultural woven grand opening ceremony under the University of Ghana Stadium lights on Monday officially heralded the 24th edition of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Senior Athletics Championship.
Dubbed: ‘Accra 2026,’ the night of rich spectacular Ghanaian cultural display put together by the Noyam African Dance Institute and the Ghana Dance Company set the stage for a thrilling six days of elite continental showdown in over 40 field and track events by over 1,000 athletes from 49 African countries.
The night brought together several high profile personalities from the Ghanaian sports and political arena as well as the upper echelon of world and African athletics.
Ghana’s Chief of Staff, Mr Julius Debrah, led a high powered government delegation which also had Minister of Sports and Recreation, Mr Kofi Adams; former Minister of Sports, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye; Board Chairman of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Dr Fred Awaah; Director General of the NSA, President of World Athletics (WA), Lord Sebastian Coe; Chief Executive Officer of CAA Lamine Faty, chair of the World Athletics Governance Commission, Prof. Francis Dodoo, and others.
In a speech read on his behalf by Mr Debrah, the Special Guest of Honour, President John Dramani Mahama said Ghana was proud to host the championship because sports remained one of the greatest instruments for shaping national pride, inspiring young people and strengthening the forms of brotherhood across Africa.
While charging all athletes to compete fairly and make their nations proud at the championship, President Mahama called on Ghanaians to continue to show the rest of Africa the very best of Ghanaian warmth and courtesy which the country was known for.
The Sports and Recreation Minister, Mr Kofi Adams, indicated that if Africa was serious about integration, then sports must become part of that integration agenda, because sports already does what politics and economics sometimes struggle to achieve.
He encouraged the athletes to use the championship to sell the continent well, and remind the world that the future of global sports will continue to carry a strong African heartbeat.
World Athletics boss, Lord Coe, praised the remarkable impact African athletes continue to make on the global stage.
“Athletics in Africa is in great shape, the World Relays for the first time in Africa in Botswana last week placed the continent at the heart of the global sporting calendar,” he noted.
Top Ghanaian musicians, Stonebwoy and Edem, and popular dancer, Afronita, lit up the ceremony with some electrifying performances.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
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The post CAA Senior Athletics Championships opens in Accra appeared first on Ghanaian Times.
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