Africa armwrestling gets strong backing for inclusion in 13th African Games

General Nasser expressed his appreciation to the Presidents of WAF and AFA for their continuous support in making Africa a hub for the sport and urged them to speed up processes in registering the sport as part of the 25 sporting disciplines.

The Association of African Sports Confederation (UCSA) and the World Armwrestling Federation (WAF) have supported the inclusion of armwrestling in the 13th African Games, dubbed Accra 2023.

General Ahmed Nasser who is the President of UCSA and Assen Hadjitodorov, President of WAF have thrown their collective weight behind armwrestling to be part of the 25 disciplines selected for the March 2024 African Games.

The leadership of the World Armwrestling Federation and the Association of Africa Sports Confederations known as UCSA in separate statements during a joint meeting in Cairo, Egypt acknowledged the speed and development of armwrestling in Africa as the reason for consideration for Africa to play and experience the ever popular and traditional sport.

Speaking at the meeting, General Nasser said there had been consultations with Ghana’s Minister for Youth and Sports Hon. Mustapha Ussif, and the Local Organising Committee for the 13th African Games as well as African Armwrestling Federation (AFA) President Charles Osei Asibey to register the sport in the 13th Africa Games.

“I think you are going to have the support from the Local Organising Committee, the African Union (AU) has no problem so we will still be waiting for the Association of African Olympic Committee (ANOCA) so, at the end of the day, you have a good chance to be in the game,” General Nasser stated.

According to him, he is excited to see the sport gain recognition at the continental level and said he is committed to helping develop the sport in the world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent.

General Nasser expressed his appreciation to the Presidents of WAF and AFA for their continuous support in making Africa a hub for the sport and urged them to speed up processes in registering the sport as part of the 25 sporting disciplines.

On his part, Assen Hadjitodorov also applauded the President of UCSA for maintaining his support to see the growth of the sport on the continent, thereby endorsing it in the 13th Africa Games.

He pledged his support for the Games and assured General Nasser that the WAF would contribute its quota to make Africa Games Armwrestling memorable.

“Regarding the organisation of the African championships and especially the Africa games next year, I want to confirm that we give full support from the World Armwrestling Federation to the continental African federation and we will deliver a high-level performance of the athletes,” he stated.

The President of the World Armwrestling Federation intimated that he is on a mission to make Armwrestling one of the leading sports on the world stage, with the help of UCSA, ANOCA, AU, AFA, and other federations.

Osei Asibey noted that African countries are so much interested in the sport, therefore a need to champion this agenda of including it in the continental competition.

He said AFA, in collaboration with the World Armwrestling body and the Local Organising Committee of the Africa Games, was putting things in place to help host the continental championship which will serve as the qualifier for the Africa Games.

Present at the meeting were Ahmed Nasser, President of the Association of African Sports Confederation (UCSA), Assen Hadjitodorov, President of the World Armwrestling Federation (WAF), Mircea Simeonescu, Secretary General of the World Armwrestling Federation (WAF), Julien Boumsong, Secretary General of the Armwrestling Federation of Africa (AFA), Pharm. Kofi Addo-Agyekum, Vice President, Armwestling Federation of Africa (AFA).

The opening ceremony for the 13th African Games will be on March 8, 2024, with the closing ceremony slated for 23rd March 2024.

by El Akyereko