13th AFRICA GAMES KICKS OFF IN GRAND STYLE

By Chripus C Macauley

16-year-old Hana Goda of Egypt won the women's table tennis singles title at the African Games

The delayed 2023 African Games kicked off this week, with the official opening ceremony in Ghana's capital, Accra, on Friday.

The games, formerly called the All-African Games, are held every four years, the year before the Olympics. This year, 52 countries are competing, making it an actual pan-African sporting event.

Some 5,000 athletes will battle it out to win medals and break records in 30 disciplines, an increase from the 2019 African Games, which offered 26 sports. 

The 2015 Games had 22 disciplines.

Events are being held in Accra, Cape Coast and Kumasi, Ghana's second-largest city.

Table tennis was the first event to launch, with Egypt clinching the gold medal in both the men's and women's singles events, while the football competition kicked off on Thursday.

The 30 disciplines include eight Olympic qualifying events, 15 non-qualifying and seven demonstration sports that showcase emerging trends and disciplines. 

The Olympic qualifying events are swimming, athletics, badminton, cycling, tennis, table tennis, wrestling and triathlon.

Demonstration sports include eSports, mixed martial arts, sambo and scrabble, promising what the African Union calls a "glimpse into the future of sports entertainment."

Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are the most successful countries. All of them were in the top three gold medal winners in the past six games. One has to go back to 1987, when Egypt, Tunisia and Nigeria won the most gold medals, to find another country in the top three.