Ghana entered three disciplines, boxing, athletics and table tennis. Even though a couple of the boxers showed marked improvement, their performance was not good enough to win medals.

The four man boxing squad of flyweight Alfred Kotey, Lightweight Ike Quartey, light-welterweight.Alfred Ankama (captain) and light-middleweight Emmanuel Quaye had an early boost when they all drew a bye in the first round.

Alfred Ankama inspired his colleagues with one of the fastest knockouts in the tournament when he stopped Jay Simbete of Malawi in 1 min 15 secs of the first round. A terrific right caught the Malawian flush on the jaw and he dropped like a sack of cocoa beans to be counted out.

Flyweight Alfred Kotey followed suit with another first round win over Husain Almuntari of Kuwait. The referee stepped in at 2 mins 43 secs to save the clearly outclassed Kuwaiti from undue punishment.

Light weight Ike Quartey won with a unanimous decision over Saizozena of Dominican Republic. Ike did well but his stamina appeared suspect in the closing stages of the fight.

Light-middleweight Emmanuel Quaye, a last minute inclusion in the Olympic squad lost to Laurensio Mecando of Ecuador. Quaye was just too inexperienced and not even the fact that his opponent was given a public warning in the second round for persistenly hitting with open gloves could make any difference.

Quaye was given a standing count as round three began and it was obvious that he couldn’t last. Ii was therefore not surprising when he was decked just before the end of the round to be counted out.

In his second fight flyweight Alfred Kotey produced a blistering double fisted attack to score a unanimous points victory against Tanzanian Benjamin Mwangath. He dominated the Tanzanian in the first two rounds but the Tanzanian came out strongly in the third round. In a hot exchange of punches late in the round the Tanzanian opened a cut on the left cheek of Kotey but Kotey had done enough to get the verdict.

Lightweight Ike Quartey lost his second fight to Australia’s Grabane Chevey in a close contest. The first round was even and Ike won the second round. The third round was also quite close and could have gone to either boxer but when the scores were called the Australian had been made winner by all the five officials.

Perhaps the aggressive brawling tactics of the Australian were what won the hearts and minds of the judges. Ike who felt cheated staged a mini protest by remaining in the ring for a couple of minutes before finally bowing out amidst applause.

The biggest setback to the boxing team was when medal hope Alfred Kotey was declared unfit at the ring side moments before his quarter final bout against Mexican Mario Gonzales. The medical commission of International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) ruled that a cut which Kotey had sustained in the fight against Tanzanian Benjamin Mwangath and which had been stitched had made it unsafe for the Ghanaian to fight. All attempts by the Ghanaian officials to have the ruling reversed failed. Team physician Dr Fordjour was particularly a sad person for he had sanctioned the stitching of Kotey’s cut

In athletics, sprinter Leo Myles Mills emerged the most outstanding Ghanaian athlete. He won both the first and second heats in the 100m in 10,33 secs and 10.21 secs respectively to reach the semi finals. It was believed that the draw of lanes in the semis which put Myles Mills next to the indomitable Carl Lewis of the US would inspire him. Instead he appeared overawed and tensed up and was left behind on the blocks as the gun went. In the event Mills finished last in the semis with a time of 10.43 secs having clocked 10.33 secs and10.21 secs earlier in the heats.

Again in the 200m, Myles Mills qualified for the second round heats by placing fourth behind Italy’s Stefano Tolli,Carl Lewis and Nigeria’s Olapide Adenikan in 21.04 secs. Then in the quarter-finals he finished sixth but didn’t qualify for the semi finals because his time of 20.95 secs was a shade slower than Belgium’s Patrick Stevens.

The men’s100x4m relay quartet of Eric Akogyeram, Nelson Boateng,Salaam Gariba, and Myles Mills qualified for the semis finishing third behind Soviet Union and Germany in 39.13 secs, the sixth fastest of the 14 qualifiers. The Ghanaians were hopeful of a medal following the disqualification of the strong US team for changing the last baton in the wrong zone while winning their first round heats Poor baton changing however cost Ghana and she placed fifth in the semis in 39.46 secs with an overall 12th position in the semi final rankings. All the eight finalists clocked under 39 secs in the semis.

Triple jumper Francis Dodoo failed to make it to the second round. He could only manage a poor 16.88m after four attempts and thus failed to qualify for the second round.

In the women’s division top star Diana Yankey didn’t have much of a chance in the sprints running against the likes of Florence Griffith Joyner, the Olympic and World record holder and Evelyn Ashford both of the US. However she managed to qualify for the second round heats where she was eliminated after placing last in 11.64 secs

Also in the women’s 100m hurdles Diana Yankey failed to qualify for the second round when she placed 4th in her heats. Her time of 13.64 secs put her in the 24th ranking out of 33 starters and was not good enough for her to advance in the competition.

In the women’s long jump 16 year old Juliana Yendork finished 27th among 29 competitors. She fell at the end of the first round but one expected her to gain some experience having competed against top class athletes like Olympic record holder Jackie Joyner Kersee.

The women’s sprints relay quartet of Veronica Bawuah, Diana Yankey, Mercy Addy, and Martha Appiah crashed out in the semis after running the 12th fastest time of 44.12 secs in the quarter finals

In table tennis young Patricia Akosua Ofei lost all her four matches to finish sixth and

last in her group Patricia lost 3-1 to Australian Kerry Tapier 19-21,12-21,22-20,16-21.;lost 3-1 to Wai Cheng Lau of Malaysia 21-18,18-21,17-21,17-21; beaten 3-1 by Ka Sha Kok of Hong Kong 18-21,21-18,17-21,17-21, and then 3-0 to Kiyomi Ishida of Japan 20-22,16-21,15-21.

For young Akose the experience gained against top class opposition from China, Malaysia and Japan proved invaluable.