Ghana’s Ambassador To Russia Visits Amputees

Ghana’s Ambassador to Russia, His Excellency Dr Seth Koranteng, has paid a special visit to the camp of the Ghana National Amputee Football Team, the Black Challenge, at their hotel base in Kaliningrad, Russia to lend his support to their World Cup campaign.

The hurriedly organized visit was to give Dr. Koranteng the opportunity to assess their preparations and to encourage them to go for gold at the 31st Amputee Football World Cup currently going on in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Dr. Koranteng, who came in the company of the Consular at the Embassy, asked them to discard the notion that they are disabled but rather see themselves as equal to any other person since they stand in a privileged position most so-called able bodied persons would wish to be in. He indicated that he was informed late about the team’s presence in Kaliningrad so had to quickly arrange this trip to their camp, suspending some other equally important engagements to be with them and was going to be at the opening ceremony to continue with his agenda. Doctor Koranteng, very hopeful Ghana would win the trophy, told the players not to consider any other team as better or worse but treat any other match with equal seriousness to attain their objective of winning the trophy. Mr. Francis Adjetey Sowah, President of the Ghana Amputee Football Federation (GAFF) as well as the Amputee Football Federation of Africa (AFFA), thanked Ambassador Koranteng for the great honor and promised the team would make Ghana proud.

Mr. Sowah was hopeful Ghana would not only seek to do better than in previous competitions but also aim at the ultimate to project the image of Ghana and Africa. He expressed joy at seeing the Ambassador, indicating that his presence is a great impetus to their mission in Kaliningrad.

Captain of the team, Richard Arthur Opentil, conveyed the playing body’s gratitude to him with the promise that they wouldn’t let the nation down. Ghana are in Group A alongside Russia (host and 4th best in the world), Argentina (2nd best in the world), Poland (new entrant), Iran and El Salvador in this year’s Amputee Football World Cup currently taking place in Kaliningrad, Russia.

Group B is made of Liberia, Turkey, Japan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and England. The biennial event would end on October 16.