The attention of the country has over the last few weeks been tuned to the Ghanaian teams that qualified for the Tokyo Olympic games for two reasons, the first been that Ghana won a medal at the Olympic games in Japan in the year 1964 and secondly because the team have put in so much work to ensure they come out with flying colours.
With the team far away from home, it is always assumed that their daily routine away from home will be different so BoxinGhana.com had to interview GBA Pro, Mr. Sammy Heywood Okine who is with the team and ensuing their communication role.
After about thirty minutes of interview, Mr. Okine made known to BoxinGhana.com that, “the boxers go to the gym or do some running while the other Ghanaian teams like the swimmers use the pool at the Azuma Junior School. The Black Bombers and weightlifters train with the weights at the same training camp.”
With the weather very conducive for training, the Black Bombers are making use and ensuring they reach maximum speed before the start of the tournament.
Mr. Okine continued to say, “The Bombers train in the morning and afternoon each day. Every training session in the morning start at 9am and runs through an hour and half, we return to the gym in the afternoon at 4pm and refresh as well as train for another hour.”
Ghana among many other African countries have set goals for this Olympics and it has won Ghana support from the Japanese nationals.
“We are able to achieve the set plans everyday since arriving at Inawashiro, while keeping in shape with our mode of dieting and training. It is amazing how each bomber and management team has become an inspiration to one another. From our training camp to our hotel, its all fun and respect but still discipline.”
Covid-19 has been a constant global challenge for almost two years and at a point it almost looked as if it was going to be the reason for the postponement of the Olympic games but Mr. Okine explained saying, “There is still a state of emergency in Japan so people don’t move about anyhow. Foreigners do not go out shopping as it used to. Restaurants and other public spaces are closed in a bid to manage the spread of the virus so you have to send a dispatcher to get you stuff. As much as we would have loved the games to take place in Inawashiro, we will move to Tokyo in two or three days time as the Games kick start on the 23rd of this month.”
Written by: Nana Kojo Sakyie Eduafo-Quansah
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