The President of the Ghana Boxing Authority, Peter Zweenes, has charged the Ministry of Youth and Sports to give more concrete support to boxing and other sports in the country and stop the over-concentration on football.
Speaking at the arrival of Team Dogboe at the Kotoka International Airport on Tuesday, Zweenes said that the Sports Ministry had to move from mere rhetoric to tangible backing of the sport especially in the financial sense.
He cited the travails of Isaac Dogboe and his team as they went through the process of getting money to help the boxer’s career from the beginning until last Saturday when he became world super bantamweight champion.
“It is time the Sports Ministry stopped paying lip service to helping the other sports. It is time the ministry translated its help in practical terms.
Sitting here, I can tell you that Paul Dogboe (Isaac Dogboe’s trainer) and his team have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get this far to bring this title.
If the Ministry, as usual, wants to take credit for the success of other individuals when we have not seen any concrete contribution, then they must sit up. So, if the Sports Minister is listening to me, I am saying it loud and clear.
This is the time they must come and give us some practical help. We need to see that the Ministry is not for only football.”
Zweened was with Team Dogboe in Philadelphia where Isaac Dogboe became Ghana’s youngest boxing champion at age 23 when he stopped Jesse Magdelano in the 11th round of the bout.
The Royal Storm returns home
Isaac Dogboe was met on arrival at the airport by fans and officials of the Sports Ministry and the Ghana Boxing Authority.
He was accompanied by members of his team including his father and trainer, Paul Dogboe.
Ghanaian boxing legend, Azumah Nelson, was also there to meet Dogboe. Nelson has been one of Dogboe’s biggest fans and he has served as a mentor to the boxer and predicted that he would become world champion at a point.
He stressed on his prediction when he spoke at the arrival.
“As a boxing professor, when I see a world champion, I can tell and that was the situation with Isaac. I would like to thank Isaac’s father for his work and I congratulate Isaac for winning the title.”
Dogboe’s feat has been praised by the Sports Ministry through a statement it released on April 30.
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By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana