Africa-Press – Ghana. Mr Kofi Iddie Adams, the Minister of Sports and Recreation, says they are committed to implementing the findings of the committee formed to investigate the death of Nigerian boxer Gabriel Oluwasegun Olanrewaju.
The committee, presented its final report to the Minister of Sports and Recreation, detailing how the Nigerian boxer met his untimely death during a bout at Bukom Boxing Arena.
Speaking to the media after receiving the report, Mr Adams commended the committee for submitting their findings within the specified time.
“Life is precious, and the incident that happened was unfortunate, but it serves as a call to be able to reform things.
“The Ministry has received the report, and we will study it and make sure that we implement the findings because we took time to select the people with experience to serve on the committee.
“I have no doubt that the time and energy spent on findings will bring out the true turn of events and that nothing will be hidden,” he said.
Mr Adams also urged all federations and associations in the sporting fraternity to follow laid-down procedures to help safeguard the lives of athletes when organising tournaments.
“I hope this will serve as a lesson to other federations and not just boxing. This is a wake-up call for associations and federations to do the right thing and follow the laid-down procedures in organising events,” the Minister of Sports and Recreation said.
Major (Retired) Amarkai Amarteifio, the Chairman of the Committee, said the events that transpired were unfortunate but believe it serves as a wake-up call for all stakeholders to safeguard athletes’ lives.
“Boxing has done so much to raise the country’s image, and we are among the best in the world. But sadly enough we can’t say the same for now, and the reasons are quite obvious,” he said.
He added that reports present a unique platform to address the pressing problems of sports, not only boxing, but also trigger urgent reforms in the sector.
Major Rtd. Amarteio commended his fellow committee members who worked tirelessly to meet the stipulated deadline and prayed their work would become useful in developing Ghana sports.
Some members who served on the committee were Peter Zwennes, a prominent lawyer; Ekow Asmah, a respected journalist and boxing historian; legal experts Samuel Bartels and Juliana Addo-Yobo; seasoned boxing official Eddie Pappoe; and sports medicine specialist Dr Martin Engmann.
KOA
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