It has been 365 days of thrilling entertainment in the sports industry.
There have been highs and lows, moments to savour, others to forget. There have been some unforgettable moments the sporting discipline in Ghana.
Here are some five sporting stories that made waves in Ghana in the year 2019.
The election of Kurt E. S Okraku as GFA President.
After a year in which Ghana football was thrown into disarray in the wake of the exposé of investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Kurt Okraku was overwhelmingly elected as the new President of the GFA.
Okraku, the Chief Executive Officer of Dreams Football Club beat the likes of George Afriyie, Nana Yaw Amponsah, Amanda Clinton and three others to the role.
Kurt fills the spot vacated by Kwesi Nyantakyi who resigned in 2018 after the damning revelations against him in the Anas’ number 12 expose.
The 48-year-old led the election contest right from the very first round till the end.
93 of the delegates approved him as the new GFA President after his fiercest competitor, George Afriyie pulled out in the second round.
Richard Commey loses title to Teofimo Lopez
Ghana’s hopes of entering 2020 with at least a world champion were dashed after Teofimo Lopez knocked out Richard Commey in the second round of the title fight.
Commey’s reign as IBF Lightweight champion ended in New York and missed out on the chance to fight Vasyl Lomachenko for the unification of belts.
Lopez who showed a lot of urgency and skill floored the now former world champion. Commey wobbled heavily and struggled to get up. He, however, overcame all odds and woke up. That decision came out as a bad decision as his opponent capitalized on that and landed 31 out of 35 power shots which forced the referee to stop the bout.
Black Stars fall short at AFCON in Egypt.
The Black Stars of Ghana failed again to bring back home the African Cup of Nations trophy after suffering a penalty shootout defeat to Tunisia.
Tunisia took the lead after Taha Khenissi’s shot found the back of the net. Ghana however got the equalizer as substitute, Rami Bedoui headed into his own net to force the game into extra time.
With neither side able to find a winner in the 30 minutes, the match had to be decided on penalties.
Caleb Ekuban’s miss, proved costly as Tunisia went on to face Madagascar in the quarter-finals after the 5-4 win on penalties.
‘Baby Black Stars’ miss out on Tokyo Olympics
DIfferent side, different tournament but same fate as the Black Meteors missed out on qualification to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Ghana lost 6-5 on penalties to South Africa in the 3rd and 4th place playoffs of the AFCON U-23 tournament.
The Black Meteors had earlier lost their first chance to book a slot at the Olympic Games after collapsing on penalties to Ivory Coast in the semifinals.
The U-23 side had to wait until the 3rd and 4th matches after Evans Mensah, Emmanuel Cudjoe and Kwabena Owusu missed their spot-kicks against their West African neighbours.
Ghana 4×100 relay teams qualify for the World Athletics Championships
Ghana’s men’s sprint relay team were dominant at the African Games in Morocco as they stormed to victory in the final.
Team Ghana, with the quartet consisting of Joseph Paul Amoah, Benjamin Azamati, Martin Owusu-Antwi, and Sean Safo-Antwi, finished first with a time of 38.30 seconds ahead of Nigeria (38.59) and South Africa (38.80) who finished second and third respectively.
This helped them qualify for the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha Qatar.