President John Dramani Mahama, has yesterday officially commissioned the first ever boxing arena to be built in Ghana at Bukom in Accra.
The facility which as constructed by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust(SSNIT) with assistance from ETC Polska a Poland outfit, have other facilities including swimming pool, conference room, school and other areas that would benefit other sporting disciplines including handball, tennis,netball, basketball and volleyball.
The arena has a seating capacity of 4,000 and would help in the improvement of the sport in the country.
President Mahama in his speech said, the arena and other facilities is the fulfillment of his promise to the people of Bukom and also the development of lesser known sports by building infrastructure.
“When I appointed Ernest Thompson as Director General of SSNIT, he called on me at the office to discuss with me his vision in taking SSNIT to the next level,†the President said.
“In our discussion, I disclosed to him two things that I wanted him to take into consideration. One of them was to build a boxing arena and gym in fulfillment of my promise to the people of Bukom during 2012 campaign so that we can develop boxing talents in the Bukom area,â€he stressed.
The President presented plaques to former World Champions that emerged from Ghana including, D.K Poison, Azumah Nelson, Joshua Agbeko, Ike Quartey and Joshua Klottey.
The arena he said, would help produce more world champions for the country as there are several potentials in the area.
Present at the event were some big wigs in the National Democratic Congress(NDC) including, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Minister of Youth and Sports, Ade Coker, Mustapha Ahmed,Nii Laryea Afotey Agboe and other dignitaries within and outside the boxing fraternity.
Â
Â
Â