Amputees complete Northern Sector justifier

The Ghana Amputee Football Federation (GAFF) has held the first of a series of two justify-your-inclusion sessions at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi to give more amputee footballers the chance to play in the national team, the Black Challenge.

The event which is under the sponsorship of Discovery Group International, with support from Mr. Moses Parker, a member of the Federation undertook a successful exercise, with potential players picked for possible inclusion into the national team.

The event started with players from Kumasi, Obuasi, Tamale, Bolgatanga, Wa and Sunyani, the regional capitals of Ashanti, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions, as they displayed their football skills to attract the attention of the technical men made up of Head Coach Ali Jarra, Assistant Coach Benjamin Charles Armah, with Technical support from the Regional Directorate of the National Sports Authority (NSA), headed by Mr. Saka-Acquaye.

The coaches after about two hours of practical exercises, expressed satisfaction at the quality of some of the players and penned them down for camping in preparation towards the next Amputee Football World Cup slated for Russia from October 6-15 this year.

They maintained that the selected players would be camped with those selected from the southern sector before the final squad would be picked.

Mr Francis Adjetey Sowah, President of GAFF, who is also the President of the Amputee Football Federation of Africa (AFFA), addressed the media at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, outlining the reasons for the special exercise.

He disclosed that besides selecting players for the national team, the exercise also aims at regrouping amputees across the country for a prospective amputee league to begin soon, as well as engage in other disability sporting activities.

Mr Sowah explained that those who may not be selected into the national team would still fulfill their dream of playing football by joining one of the Clubs to be formed for the League.

He expressed appreciation to the Discovery Group, Mr. Moses Parker, the sponsors, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Sports Authority (NSA) and the media for their support, and appealed to other corporate bodies and individuals to give hope to persons with disability.

On behalf of the Federation, Mr Sowah presented footballs, crutches plus Discovery Group branded shirts to Mr. Peter Awuni, Head of the Northern Sector to facilitate his work.

The southern version would be held at the Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC) at 10:00 a.m., bringing together amputee players from the Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern, Central and Western Regions.