In addition to track and field and boxing Ghana qualified among the 16 finalists in the football series, the first African country south of the Sahara to do so.

Boxing

Light-welterweight Eddie Blay won the second Olympic medal for Ghana when he reached the semifinals after three straight victories before falling out. He was out-pointed in the semi- finals by Jerry Kuley of Poland in an exciting contest.

It was quite close but Eddie lost the verdict probably as a result of the knock down he had suffered in the second round. In the preliminaries Eddie Blay out-pointed Ruddy Scharkling of Denmark, knocked out Cambodian southpaw Nol Touch in 1 min 34 secs of the second round and outclassed Da Silva of Brazil to enter the medal zone

Two boxers, light-middleweight Eddie Davies and middleweight Joe Darkey lost out in the quarter-finals .thus missing the medal zone narrowly.

Eddie Davies survived a first round knockdown by Hungarian Laszlo Sebok to win his first fight on points. In the second fight he clearly out-pointed American Tom Gribson to reach the quarter finals but had to pull out at that stage on medical grounds. It was detected that he had a detached retina in his left eye

Middleweight Joe Darkey who drew a bye in the preliminaries out-pointed American southpaw Jein Rosette to reach the quarterfinals but he was beaten at that stage by Popenchenko of the Soviet Union

Bantamweight Cassis Aryee and flyweight Sulley Shittu made impressive openings but faded out in their second fights. Cassis knocked out Thein Myint of Burma in the second round and Sulley Shittu scored a first round knock out win over Jammat Ibrahim of Malaysia. Cassis was however out-pointed by T. Sakuria of Japan in his next fight and Sulley was also out-pointed by John Maffety of Ireland.

Lightweight Sammy Amekudzi was knocked out in 1 min 27 secs of the first round by Karaman Shiratoni of Japan in the preliminaries.

Athletics.

A squad of eight men and three women represented Ghana in this discipline.

MEN; J.A..Addy reached the semi finals of the 400 metres in 47.6 secs. He had earlier recorded 47.2 secs in the heats and 47.3 secs in the second round.

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+ Mike Ahey was 7th in the long jump with a distance of 23ft 4in. He had earlier run the 100 metres 10.6 secs in the heats and 10.5 secs in the second round.

+ Stanley Allotey did 10.6 secs in the 100 metres heats and 10.7 secs in the second round

+ M.F. Okantey ran the 200m heats in 21.9 secs.

+Ebenezer Quartey was timed at 47.1 secs in the 400 metres heats and 47 secs in the second round.

+ E.D. Amevor was unplaced in the 1,500 metres heats.

+ The men’s 4x100 metres relay team of Mike Ahey, Stan Allotey, M. F. Okantey and J.A.Addy ran the heats in 40.7 sces and the quarter finals in 40.4 secs

+The 4x 400metres relay team of Quartey, Sam Bugri, Brobbey and J.A.Addy survived only the heats in 3mins 10.4 secs.

In the women’s division Alice Anum’s best in the long jump was 5.45 metres.

+ Rose Hart was timed at 11.9 secs in the 100metres heats and she clocked 11.2 secs in the second round Later she clocked 11.3 secs in the 80 metres hurdles heats.

+ Christiana Boateng was unplaced in the 100 metres

Football.

The national team Black Stars contingent comprised the following players; Dodoo Ankrah, Addoquaye Laryea, Anue Cofie,(goalkeepers); Atta Kwame, Sam Acquah, Emmanuel Oblitey, Ben Acheampong, Addo Odametey, Samuel Anum Okai, Franklin Crentsil, Joe Adjei,(defenders) Kofi Pare, Aggrey Fynn, Emmanuel Nkansah, Wilberforce Mfum(midfielders), Osei Kofi, Edward Acquah, Agyeman Gyau, Gladstone Ofori, Frank Odoi, and Mohammed Salisu

The Stars played three matches, won one drew one and lost one rather heavily The Stars drew 1-1 with Argentina in their opening match. Centre forward Carlos Bulla scored first for Argentina in the 26th minute and Edward Acquah affectionately called, the “man with the sputnik shot” replied for Ghana ten minutes later

The Black Stars hit the international headlines when they beat host nation Japan 3-2.in their second match.. A defensive blunder had cost Ghana the first goal as early as the 12th minute but Agyeman Gyau got the equaliser for Ghana.in the 28th minute after receiving a good pass from Aggrey Fynn. Half time was 1-1.

Japan went ahead again through another defensive blunder in the 53rd minute but Sam Acquah leveled for Ghana seven minutes later with a powerful long range free kick

“Bulldozer” Wilberforce Mfum got the match winner for Ghana in the 80th minute with a typical a pile-driver

With this inspirational victory the Black Stars were tipped to reach the medal zone but they slumped miserably to United Arab Republic (Egypt) 5-1in their quarterfinal match.

Ghana had taken the lead in the 28th minute from a spot kick expertly taken by Wilberforce Mfum but the UAR got the equalizer just before half time then the disaster happened in the second half.

On a soggy pitch, occasioned by sudden rainfall the Black Stars woefully failed to match the speed of the North Africans and conceded four rapid goals much to the astonishment of the thick crowd.

In a special side attraction for a diploma certificate Romania beat Ghana 4-2.