Ghanaian universities exhibited their athletic prowess at the 11th All-African University Games (FASU 2024) in Lagos from 20-29 September 2024 and came out with a satisfactory result at this continental showpiece event, enough to elevate each school’s reputation on the global stage.

The nation’s contingent of five universities won 25 gold medals, surpassing the 15 they won in the Kenyatta 2022 games with three universities.

Only the host country, Nigeria (33) and Angola (7) had more universities at the 2024 games than Ghana’s five and they finished third on the medal table with 25 gold behind Nigeria (85 gold) and Egypt (46 gold).

Of all the five universities, only Ghana Communication Technology University (GCTU) failed to win a medal after showing up late with contingents for just the basketball event alone.

University of Ghana (UG) racked up 32 medals, a staggering 46% of Ghana’s total medals in the games while the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) followed with 13 medals each with the University for Development Studies (UDS) completing the set with 11 medals.

Institutional Breakdown: How they fared

University of Ghana

With 19 medals won in the last edition of the games in 2022 coming from athletics, tennis and table tennis, the University of Ghana was determined to take the next step further in Lagos by fielding athletes in six sports; football, tennis, badminton, swimming, volleyball and athletics.

This yielded positive results for them, most notably in Athletics, where they won 8 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze for a total of 22 medals, which doesn’t just surpass their entire medal for the 2022 games but also twice as much as any other institution that participated in the 2024 athletics event.

Morris Bazaa Taofic and Kwaku Williams were at the heart of the team, with Taofic winning a gold medal in the 1500m and 800m men’s event while Williams won the 200m men’s event and also the 4x100m men’s gold as well as a silver medal in the 4x400m men’s event.

As a student-athlete, Taofic acknowledges the importance of the guidance and resources provided by the University of Ghana, crediting them for their influence in shaping his athletic journey.

“I am honoured to win these [800m and 1500m] gold medals,” Taofic stated. “I am super grateful to the University of Ghana Sports Directorate for the contribution in helping me discover this talent of mine.”

The institution’s student union’s director of sport, Oyeyoni Oyewale Johnson also took the field and won the gold medal in the men’s triple jump to join other eight colleagues who delivered gold medals in the athletics discipline.

The team added 1 gold, 1 silver and 8 bronze medals across other sports for a total of 9 gold, 9 silver and 14 bronze medals to become the country’s flagship institution and ranked 4th on the overall medal table, six places better than their 10th position in Kenyatta 2022 games.

University of Development Studies

If there’s another name for perseverance, it should be “University for Development Studies (UDS).” The institution travelled over 1,000 kilometres from the northern part of Ghana with all their contingents by road down to Lagos to compete in the 2024 FASU Games.

Competing in only two sports, UDS narrowed their participation to football and athletics as they focused solely on medal-winning events.

The institution registered nine athletes for 13 athletics events, and seven of them won 17 medals, with 10 of those medals being gold.

Selina Awimpoka won the high jump and long jump women’s gold, with the high jump win coming against her teammate, Grace Aduntira who settled for silver and later finished ahead of the pack to win gold in both women’s 400m and 400m hurdles.

In the men’s cadre, Musah Amdu won the 110m hurdle and Frank Addo won the 400m men’s gold with both of them also being part of the quartet that delivered gold alongside Eric Annobil and Charles Nyame in the 4x400m men’s event.

This surpassed their feat in Kenyatta where they won only 3 golds in athletics, and that was not the only opened Kenyatta wound they were looking to heal. 

They missed out on the coveted football gold medal in Kenyatta 2022 games, having to settle for bronze and are determined to take two leaps further in the 11th edition of the continental games.

They started on a strong foot and finished with the best performance one could ever hope for, defeating the host, University of Lagos 3-0 on home turf and winning the eluded football gold medal.

With the result, they will represent Africa at the FISU University Football World Cup in 2025, becoming the first ever Ghanaian school, male or female, to achieve such a feat.

A notable breakout star from Tamale Boys was Ezedeen Alhassan, after having a slow start to the tournament, he opened his scoring account with a goal against Nkumba University in the third game and added a hattrick against the University of Jos before scoring a brace to become the highest goalscorer in the tournament with six goals.

Alhassan was hailed and called “Messiah” among fans and his teammates after his brace in the final. The 20-year-old midfielder stood after the final whistle with teary eyes, reminiscing about his team’s unbelievable success.

“I started this tournament as a reserve player, but I’m concluding it with six goals,” Alhassan said, his voice trembling. “I thank God for this incredible turnaround. My teammates’ support throughout the tournament has been invaluable.”

Overcoming his emotions, Alhassan struggled to express his feelings. “I’m speechless; it’s an incredibly emotional moment.”

Alhassan’s voice echoed with conviction as he recounted UDS’ arduous journey to Lagos, Nigeria. “This trip wasn’t about pleasure; it was about perseverance.”

“What I’ve been through before we came to this tournament wasn’t easy. There was a lot of fatigue because we travelled from the Northern part of Ghana. We had to first go to the Southern part of Ghana before we came to Lagos. So, there was a lot of fatigue coming here.”

The 400 level basic education student revealed they faced a daunting 444-kilometre, 13-hour road trip from Tamale to Accra, only to embark on another exhausting 600-kilometre, 18-hour journey to Lagos. “We spent over a day on the road, but our focus never wavered.”

University of Cape Coast

It seemed as though Ghanaian universities had orchestrated a unified mission to overhaul the athletics medals, and if taken to court, the University of Cape Coast (UCC) would undoubtedly be found guilty as their entry list alone provides overwhelming evidence of intent. 

After missing the previous edition of the FASU Games, UCC returned to Lagos with a focused strategy, fielding 10 athletes in a single sport: athletics.

Eight of the 10 athletes made a podium finish, with Rexford Bugase, Baatah Dramani, Osburn Turkson, Mariam Aidoo, and Belinda Owusu winning gold in men’s discus, men’s shot put, men’s 400m hurdles, women’s 1500m, and women’s javelin, respectively, to give the institution 5 gold, 4 silver, and 4 bronze for a total 13 medals and earn seventh place finish.

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Host of the last Ghana University Sports Association Games (GUSA 2022), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), left the shores of Kumasi for Lagos to compete in FASU Games after missing out on the last event, hoping to ride on the good run of form they had during the 2023 West African University Games (WAUG) in Nigeria back in December.

Taking centre stage for them was, Janet Mensah who became the shining light and arguably one of the MVPs of the FASU 2024 Games. On day one of the athletics event, she crossed the finish line in 12.18s to win the gold medal in the 100m women’s final and become the fastest female student on the continent.

In the evening session, Mensah proved that her achievement earlier in the day was not a fluke and capped up an unforgettable day with a win in the 200m women’s final for a sprint double.

She then leads Team KNUST’s quartet to a first-place finish in the 4x100m mixed relay, thereby coming out of the game as the only athlete, male or female, with a hat-trick of gold across all athletics events.

Tracy Ampah added one more gold medal for the school to raise their total to 4 and overall 13 medals to seal the 10th position when the 17-year-old clinched the tennis singles title.

Commenting on the achievement, Doku Doreen, the General Sport Secretary of the KNUST Student Sports Council, said, “It was incredibly inspiring to witness Tracy’s victory in the tennis singles. Her dedication, hard work, and determination really paid off, and it’s a proud moment for all of us.” 

“As for her future, I see great potential in her. With continued support and the right opportunities, she could excel even further and make a significant mark in both national and international tennis. Her win is just the beginning of what could be a remarkable career.’ he concluded.

Ghana Communication Technology University

In a historic first, Ghana Communication Technology University (GCTU) made its debut at the FASU Games, competing solely in basketball, mysteriously.

The basketball event of the 2024 FASU Games kicked off as scheduled with the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lagos State University (LASU), Nile University, and Université Général Lansana Conté de Sonfonia (UGLCS) as the only four entrants on Sunday, 22 September 2024.

After playing completing three rounds of games in the round-robin format, GCTU arrived from Ghana and entered the competition after a successful appeal their players took to the court instantly and lost their opening game by over half points, 40-81 to UGLCS, followed by another  27-63 loss to Nile to exit the competition.

What’s next?

The strong performance of Ghanaian universities at FASU 2024 shows the country’s growing sports talent and promise for future achievementsThe strong performance of Ghanaian universities at FASU 2024 shows the country’s growing sports talent and promise for future achievements. With 23 gold medals out of a possible 34 won in athletics, the country has established bragging rights as the home of track and field events. 

More remarkably, the four institutions from the country that participated in athletics occupied the first to fourth positions, and Ghana, as a single nation, won more medals in athletics (55) than the combined total of the other 10 countries that participated (47).

These athletes will return to the field and courts to compete as the University of Cape Coast (UCC) will host the 2024 GUSA Games from 28 December 2024 to 15 January 2025. The GUSA Games will also serve as a preparatory ground for the University for Development Studies in their preparation for the 2025 FISU University Football World Cup in Dalian, China, and for the 2025 Summer World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, to be held in July 2025.

Written by Henry Kofi Quansah, Media Volunteer