Ghana's leading sporting personalities are expected to converge at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) where the glamorous 47th SWAG Awards ceremony would be staged.
The 47th edition of the SWAG Awards, which take place on Saturday, January 28, 2023, have Joseph Paul Amoah, Andre Dede Ayew, Mohammed Kudus, and Arsenal star Thomas Partey all in contention for top gongs.
Hearts of Oak attacker Daniel Afriyie Barnieh is in the running to retain the Home-based Footballer Award of the Year prize - an award he won at last year' event. However, he will have ex-Ashanti Gold forward Yaw Annor and Asante Kotoko goalkeeper Danlad Ibrahim to beat. In last year's edition, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games medalist Samuel Takyi bagged the Sports Personality of the Year and Amateur Boxer of the Year awards. Meanwhile, the 22-year-old is absent from this year's list of nominees which means a new champion would be crowned on the big night in Accra.
Sprinter Joseph Paul Amoah, amateur boxer Abraham Mensah, and Ajax Amsterdam star Kudus are the three candidates who could replicate the feat achieved by Takyi in December 2021.
Twenty-six-year-old medical practitioner Dr Kwabena Adu Poku, has been named as the 2022 Chess Player of the Year, while Kelvin Alphous would be crowned the Badminton Player of the Year for the second year running.
The race is, even more hottest for the Athlete of the Year award with top guns Benjamin Azamati and Joseph Paul Amoah in an open contest for the prize.
In the female category, tripler jumper Abigail Kwarteng and USA-based Deborah Acquah along with high jumper Rose Yeboah are all gunning for the big award. Kwarteng (triple jumper) and Acquah (long jumper) who both competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK are in pole positions for the accolade.
However, home-based Rose Yeboah boasts of a rich voting constituency that has been left impressed with her delivery. Yeboah, who won the Prospect of the Year Award at the 2019 edition and won Gold for Ghana during the 2022 Africa Athletics Championship, would be hoping to mount the podium once more.
Police Officer Grace Mintah has been nominated for the Female Armwrestler of the Year Award.
During the launch of the awards, the Sports Writers Association of Ghana, SWAG, announced the criteria for nominations for the 47th Awards back in August 2022.
Ghana's Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has pledged his support for the longest-running awards scheme in the country. The former Buckingham University student has already provided cash support of GH¢50,000 to the awards with GH¢10,000 each going to the Sports Journalist and Female footballer of the Year categories.
Leading Ghanaian mining firm Adamus Resources Limited has become a joint headline sponsor together with MTN Ghana to the 47th Awards with SES HD Plus, Betway, Stanbic Bank, Ghana Gas, Gyata Cement, Tobinco Pharmacy, Ghana Freezones Authority, Twellium Industries, Special Ice and others.
Top guest for the SWAG Awards include Nana Ehunabobrim Prah Agyensaim VI, President of the Owirenkyi Traditional Council, Assin Kushea, Mr Mustapha Ussif, Minister for Youth and Sports, Dr Akuffo Dampare, Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kwame Asuah Takyi, Comptroller General of Ghana Immigration Service, former athletes and players, entertainment celebrities and many more with Ghanaian Afropop and Afrobeats singer Wendy Shay, budding comedian O.B. Amponsah, gospel artiste Perpetual Didier, and young singer Ashley Chuks all performing at the event.
The awards recognises, rewards and honours outstanding achievements of deserving Ghanaian sportsmen, sportswomen, teams and officials in various disciplines (i.e. the crème de la crème persons, who bring glory and honour to themselves and the nation).
It also recognises the contribution of individuals and organisations that contribute positively to the development and promotion of Ghana's sports. It is also a platform for interaction between these sports stars and influential members of society, for stocktaking and agenda-setting, to accelerate Ghana's sports development.
The 47th MTN/Adamus SWAG Awards will be shown live on HD+ Decoder Score Channel 151. - www. swagghana.com
Ghana would win eight years later to become the first and only African country to do so.
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He has held numerous high-profile positions in the corridors of football. However, until his stunning demise, Lepowura Jawula was the chairman of the Ghana Premier League (GPL) Organising Committee, a member of the CAF Inter-Club Committee and board member of the RTU - a club's whose return to elite football in 2001 he spearheaded - after eight years in the doldrums. Alhaji Jawula, who was a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Railways, Ports and Harbours as well as the Ministry of Health, was the present Lepowura of the Kujolobito Gate of Lepo-Kpembe in the Kpembi Traditional Area in Gonjaland, Northern Region.
He also served as the Vice Chairman of the Ghana 2008 Nations Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC).
Born in 1949 by Kpembiwura Jawula Ababio, a former CPP party chairman and the only child of his mother, Lepowura Jawula attended the University of Cape Coast where he read English and Economics for his first degree before graduating with Master's degree from the University of Ghana, Legon, in African Literature and Social Policy.
- Lepowura Alhaji Jawula
