Armwrestling officials and stakeholders all across the continent have started making solid plans to enact a bigger impact and better presentation of the sport at the 2027 Africa Games in Cairo, Egypt.
This was revealed exclusively to Sports247 by the president of African Armwrestling Federation, Barrister Charles Osei Asibey, who added during an interview in Accra, Ghana that Nigeria’s officials are again playing a leading role in the crusade towards Cairo 2027.
Barrister Asibey also enthused that these early efforts should make the outcome expanded, easier to achieve and more effective than it was for last year’s Games in Accra.
Asibey, who is also president of the Armwrestling Federation of Ghana, admitted that it was a very tough and tiring process that eventually brought about inclusion of the sport as a competitive event from the first time it appeared at the Africa Games.
He recalled, “It didn’t come easy, and we had to make several moves to achieve it. First of all, they told us it was going to be a demonstration sport. So, I had to travel across Africa to convince many countries and make them understand that armwrestling has come of age.
“Looking at some other sporting
disciplines at the Africa Games, I don’t think they are better than armwrestling … it’s easy to play and it’s less expensive. I asked them, ‘Why don’t we invest in it? Everybody can play armwrestling.’ That’s how I pushed the agenda.”
The soft-spoken lawyer-turned-businessman, who has also been a journalist and broadcaster, disclosed further that having his home country as hosts of the 2024 Africa Games also worked in favour of his efforts to get armwrestling in, not only as a demonstration event but as a medals winning one.
Asibey further revealed, “Fortunately, there was a criteria that the host country had an opportunity to put in five extra disciplines of their choice. That’s why they initially said it would be a demonstration event. But, I still needed to get about eight countries to agree to come and play at the Games.
“So, I had to travel across Africa to convince our 27 member federations to come and play. At the end of it all, we got 13 countries agreeing to play. That made the ANOCA (Association of Olympic Committees of Africa) and AUSC (African Union Sports Commission) to agree that armwrestling would be a competitive sport.”
He then concluded with a strong tone of optimism that the next outing for armwrestling at the Africa Games will be greater and more memorable than the first, in order to reflect gains achieved from all effort, money and time that have been expended in taking the sport this far.
“The journey hasn’t been easy. We have invested money, time and energy. Right now, the focus is on the 2027 Africa Games, and we have already started working towards creating a better impact,” Asibey reiterated.
