The completion and testing of venues that would be utilized during the event necessitated the postponement of the 13th African Games, which were initially slated to take place in Accra this year.
Despite taking place between March 8, 2024, and March 23, 2024, the multi-sport competition will continue to be known as “Accra 2023.”
At a news conference today in Accra, Dr. Decius Chipande, the Coordinator of the African Union Sport Council, announced this.
Dr. Chipande assured reporters that the Council had assurances from the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the Games that all the facilities needed for the event would be finished and tested by December 2023 following an inspection tour.
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On his part, the Executive Chairman of the LOC, Dr Kwaku Ofosu-Asare said athletes and officials were expected to arrive in the country between March 5-7, 2024, for the games.
He also disclosed that 12 of the proposed 24 competitive sporting disciplines that will be honoured during the games will serve as qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics following approval by the President of the Association of African Sports Confederations (AASC), General Ahmed Nasser and the President of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), Mustapha Berraf.
They include; athletics, basketball 3×3, badminton, beach volleyball, cycling and judo. The rest are swimming, tennis, table tennis, triathlon, volleyball and wrestling.
Raising concerns about the new date, the President of the Ghana Athletics Association, Bawa Fuseini said the proposed date would be “highly unfavourable” to African student-athletes who would be participating in indoor events in the United States of America (USA).
Mr Fuseini stressed that if indeed the event was meant to assist African athletes to qualify for the 2024 Olympics then the date had to be reconsidered because it clashed with the indoor circuit in the USA which runs between December 2023 and March 2024.
Dr Ofosu-Asare assured that consultations would be held to resolve the concerns of the said athletes.
