In a year where the Black Stars exited the group phase of both the World Cup and AFCON and boxing failed to bring home a major world title, athletics stood out as Ghana’s sporting discipline.
The 12 months have not been particularly exciting for Ghana sports with not many extraordinary successes chalked.
Amid the gloom are some personalities who stood out and had their achievements illuminating the country’s sports at large.
Sprinter Joseph Paul Amoah and footballer Evelyn Badu are two Ghanaian sports personalities who distinguished themselves in the year and are therefore GhanaWeb’s male and female sports personalities of 2022.
Joseph Paul Amoah
Joseph Paul Amoah had a fantastic 2022 winning a medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games which was held in Birmingham.
Amoah’s conquest was the first by an African in the 200m since 2006.
It also was the first medal in the 200m by a Ghanaian since George Daniels won the silver for Ghana at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand.
In the same competition, Joseph Paul Amoah led Ghana’s relay team to qualify for the final of the 4x100m
A quartet of Benjamin Azamati, Sean Sarfo-Antwi, Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, and Barnabas Agerh finished third with a national record time of 39.05s in Heat 1 of the 4x100m relays.
However, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has disqualified Team Ghana for a technical violation after coaches failed to inform officials of their decision to replace Joseph Paul Amoah with Saminu in the heats to allow him prepare for his 200m final later today.
Honorable mentions: Mohammed Kudus and Charles Osei Assibey
Evelyn Badu
From the second half of 2021 to the first half of 2022, Evelyn Badu distinguished herself as Ghana’s best female footballer.
Her exploits for Hasaacas Ladies who went all the way to the finals of the maiden edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League made her a fan favorite in the country.
In July 2022, Evelyn Badu bagged two awards at the 2022 CAF Awards.
Ghana Evelyn Badu won the women’s Interclub Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards.
Evelyn Badu currently plays for Norwegian club Avaldsnes IL.