13th African Games Ghana what to know

The 13th African Games finally kick off in Accra Ghana on Friday, March 8, after an eight-month delay.

Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo, had to intervene to settle the disagreement between the three organizing bodies, the African Union (AU) which is the owner, the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) which is in charge of marketing and management of the games and the Association of African Sports Confederations which provides technical support.

ANOCA had threatened to pull out, citing an infringement on its marketing rights by the African Union.

This year’s competition is scheduled to run from March 8 to 23 2024, and will be the first to be hosted by Ghana since it was first organized in 1965.

It had to entirely serve as qualifiers for the Olympic Games, but due to the delay, not all disciplines will serve as qualifiers. Out of the 29 sports, just eight will serve as qualifiers; athletics, badminton, cycling, swimming, table tennis, tennis, triathlon and wrestling.

Cameroon’s Minister of Sports, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, presided at a farewell ceremony on Wednesday in Yaounde, organized for Cameroon’s sixty-five athletes who will compete in eight disciplines.

The 13th African Games will be played across three cities, Accra, Kumasi, and Cape Coast.  The competition comes up every four years, one year before the Olympics, which will be held this year in July in Paris.