The 2023 Marpro Taekwondo Open was a great success due to its competitive nature and the number of athletes that participated from various African countries for the 2-day event.
There were athletes from Ghana, Togo, Niger, Benin, Ivory Coast and Nigeria, all participating in this year’s Open, making a total of 19 clubs and 139 individual athletes. There were 50 seniors for sparring, 42 Juniors for sparring and 47 for breaking.
Additionally, there were 19 officials, who helped make the championship a great success.
In the Breaking, Sappong Jason emerged Gold Medalist in the Male U-7 years Height category, with Sebastian Korboe and Jonah Loen clinching silver and bronze medals respectively. In the same category for the female, Majorie Ewalinam walked away with the gold medal, while Mira Afeonoko and Mina Afeonoko took away the silver and bronze medals.
Anne-Marie Kabore Baidoo came tops in the Height U-12 female distance breaking to win gold medal, with only Jaxlyn Bren clinching silver medal.
In another distance breaking, male U-14, Jason Danso was superb and walked away with gold medal, while Selasi Addo and Chesega Sodzi Tettey picked silver and bronze medals accordingly.
Toure Abdul Jaul Buzoumana won gold medal for the Height U-14 male category, leaving Leon Selasi Addo and Che Sodzi Tettey to pick silver and bronze medals respectively.
The Juniors -49Kg female had Moriam Mamoudou from Niger seeing off Mary Ampofuah (WAM), Pamela Gumah (Aburi Girls) in the semis and Lawrencia Owusua (WAM) in the finals to win gold medal, while Habiba Abdul Wahab also won bronze medal.
It was an all-foreign affair in the medal zone for the male -53Kg, as two Nigeriens battled it out in the finals and Abdulmalik Amadu triumphed over Bonham Adamut for the gold medal, whereas Mohammed Labaran from Benin and Mamoudou Ali from Togo won Bronze apiece.
It was a desire to watch some of Ghana’s national athletes also clinch gold medal in their categories after a fierce contest. Henrietta Naa Ayele Armah was one of them, after she defeated Ruth Avarade from Bono Region, who had seen off Kezia Gbedze in the semis. Saadatou Boubacar from Niger was also a bronze medalist.
Aboubacar Momgye from Niger won gold medal in the +80kg male category defeating Ghana’s Michael Davidson. Aboubacar used height and intelligent to go through to the final glory, while Mamadou Abubacar and Mubarak Suley won bronze medals.
And in the Male -68kg, Prince Marvin Klutse had his first Seniors bout and settled for silver medal, after losing through injury to Mohammed Cherif in the final. Lawrence Tweasam and Farhat Mahdi were bronze medalist in that fierce category.
Emmanuella Serwaa of Ghana Social was gold medalist in the female +67Kg, after an emphatic win against counterpart Hamdiyatu Bashiru of UPS. Sunyani’s Tabuaa Elizabeth and Latifatu Mohammed from Ghana Social were bronze medalists.
Franck Ade Mensah is another Ghanaian athlete in the male -80Kg category who lost a semifinal and managed bronze medal, same as Abdul Azize Hamidu whereas, Mamoudou Ibrahim pushed for glory, defeating Mohamadou Chamdou in the finals to win gold medal.
Chief Executive Officer of Marpro Taekwondo Club, Martin Prince Oppan in an interview with TalksenseSports says while regions are calling to host, some countries are also calling.
“Even though there were some challenges, the championship has been successful by Grace of God. All were exciting, the sparring and the breaking, because I understand each and every activity that we organized but with the parents and spectators, I realized they had more fun with the kids sparring. The athletes who came from outside the country saw our publicity and decided to register to participate. Togo after being the club with more athletes participating asked, that we organize one in their country which is not possible because we have to develop ours first, so they will keep coming plus more countries.”
“The population of practitioners in Accra is more than Takoradi and so we decided to reach out to the higher number, also knowing that traveling to Accra is much easier. Marpro isn’t staying in Accra because Kumasi is calling and Volta Region is also calling and so management will look at it. We also have other championship, not Open and next year, God willing Accra will see us.” He added.
Gracing the championship include Technical Director of the Ghana Taekwondo Federation, Master Stephen Amegashie Jnr, who represented the GTF board, Grandmaster Kim, Kojo Ennin Oppan, Nana Kwame Abedi, Edward Kofi Osei Addo, Cpt Dr Amponsah, Richard Quarshie, Cpt Edward Abban and Mrs Portia Oppan.
Marpro Taekwondo Club is a Club based in Takoradi in the Western Regional twin capital and has unearthed and trained to national level some talents. They are one of the few Clubs that solely organizes taekwondo championships to expose talents in Ghana.
Below is the Medal Table for the Two-Day Open Championship
BREAKING
DISTANCE U-14 Male
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | JASON DANSO | GOLD | |
| 2 | SELASI ADDO | SILVER | |
| 3 | CHESEGA SODZI TETTEY | BRONZE |
DISTANCE U-9 Male
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | KWABENA SODZI TETTEY | GOLD | |
| 2 | JAMES AKARIBO | SILVER | |
| 3 | MESHACK KAMARA | BRONZE |
DISTANCE U-12 Male
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | DERRICK AHIOKONU | GOLD | |
| 2 | ABRAHAM KAMARA | SILVER |
HEIGHT U-12 Male
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | RYAN DA-ROCHA | GOLD | |
| 2 | KWABENA SODZI TETTEY | SILVER | |
| 3 | BIRCH NII PAPPOE | BRONZE |
HEIGHT U-12 Female
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | ANNE-MARIE KABORE BAIDOO | GOLD | |
| 2 | JAXLYN BREN | SILVER |
HEIGHT U-14 Male
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | CHESEGA SODZI TETTEY | GOLD | |
| 2 | FREDERICK ASARE | SILVER | |
| 3 | JOEL LUTTERODT | BRONZE |
HEIGHT U-7 Male
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | SAPPONG JASON | GOLD | |
| 2 | SEBASTIAN KORBOE | SILVER | |
| 3 | JONAH LOEN | BRONZE |
HEIGHT U-7 Female
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | MAJORIE EWALINAM K. | GOLD | |
| 2 | MIRA AFEONOKO | SILVER | |
| 3 | MINA AFEONOKO | BRONZE |
HEIGHT U-9 Female
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | HALLONA ROWE | GOLD | |
| 2 | MICHELLE AFEONOKO | SILVER | |
| 3 | SETORME ADZO TORNYEDAH | BRONZE |
SKILL U-7 Male
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | RICHARD ADU ASARE | GOLD | |
| 2 | CORY AGYEMANG | SILVER |
SKILL U-12 Male
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | DERRICK AHIAKONU | GOLD | |
| 2 | RYAN DA-ROCHA | SILVER | |
| 3 | JAMES AKARIBO | BRONZE |
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | TOURE ABDUL JAUL BUZOUMANA | GOLD | |
| 2 | LEON SELASI ADDO | SILVER | |
| 3 | CHE SODZI TETTEY | BRONZE |
JUNIORS
MALE -73KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | KAMILU SEIDU | GOLD | |
| 2 | KELVIN ABBEY OKOE | SILVER | |
| 3 | MUSTAPHA TOURE | BRONZE |
FEMALE -49KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | MORIAM MAMOUDOU | NIGER | GOLD |
| 2 | LAWRENCIA OWUSUA | WAM | SILVER |
| 3 | PAMELA GUMAH | ABURI GIRLS | BRONZE |
| 4 | ABIBA ABDULWAHAB | MC-XOLIBEN | BRONZE |
MALE -53KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | ABDULMALIK AMADU | NIGER | GOLD |
| 2 | BONHAM ADAMU | NIGER | SILVER |
| 3 | MOHAMMED LABARAN | BENIN | BRONZE |
| 4 | MAMOUDOU ALI | TOGO | BRONZE |
MALE -48KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | AMINU CHOIDOU | NIGER | GOLD |
| 2 | SELASI ADDO | SILVER | |
| 3 | ISMAIL HALIDOU | TOGO | BRONZE |
| 4 | ABDULFATAH MOWA | FIGHTERS | BRONZE |
MALE -63KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | ABDUL HAMID AHMED | NIGER | GOLD |
| 2 | OMAR BILAL | TOGO | SILVER |
| 3 | CHE SODZI TETTEY | BRONZE | |
| 4 | BISHOP ADU AFRIFA | GHANA SOCIAL | BRONZE |
SENIORS
FEMALE +67KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | EMMANUELA SERWA | GHANA SOCIAL | GOLD |
| 2 | HAMIDYATU BASHIRU | UPS | SILVER |
| 3 | TABUAA ELIZABETH | SUNYANI | BRONZE |
| 4 | LATIFATU MOHAMMED | GHANA SOCIAL | BRONZE |
MALE +80KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | ABOUBACAR MOMGYE | NIGER | GOLD |
| 2 | MICHAEL DAVIDSON | GREATER ACCRA | SILVER |
| 3 | MAMADOU ABUBACAR | BRONZE | |
| 4 | MUBARAK SULEY | BRONZE |
MALE -80KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | MAMOUDOU IBRAHIM | GOLD | |
| 2 | MOHAMADOU CHAMDOU | SILVER | |
| 3 | FRANCK ADE MENSAH | BRONZE | |
| 4 | ABDUL AZIZE HAMIDU | BRONZE |
MALE -68KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | MOHAMMED CHERIF | GOLD | |
| 2 | MARVIN PRINCE | SILVER | |
| 3 | TWEASAM LAWRENCE | BRONZE | |
| 4 | FARHAT MAHDI | BRONZE |
MALE -58KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | ADAMU ALKEIROU | TOGO | GOLD |
| 2 | BILARI IDE | TOGO | SILVER |
| 3 | MOHAMMED TALL | BRONZE | |
| 4 | MOHAMMED ISSAKA | TOGO | BRONZE |
FEMALE -67KG
| NAME | REGION/CLUB/COUNTRY | MEDAL | |
| 1 | HENRYETTA ARMAH | GREATER ACCRA | GOLD |
| 2 | AVARADE RUTH | SUNYANI | SILVER |
| 3 | GBEDZE KEZIA | GREATER ACCRA | BRONZE |
By: Davis Nii Attuquaye Clottey
