Ghana’s paralympic failure

‘Promises’, ‘Promises’, ‘Promises’ a recurrent term that encapsulates the affection government and corporate entities have been to disabled athletes whenever they are to embark on an international assignment for Ghana.

Largely, it has been the lack of funds/sponsorship which leads to inadequacy in preparations.

Ghana’s Rio 2016 Paralympics contingent are in a limbo over their participation in this year’s mega sports event after the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) revealed last week, their failure in securing funds for the games and further appealed for funds accordingly.

Many of its athletes had difficulty in participating in various Olympic qualifiers on the African continent which made the target of at least, 10 athletes unachievable.

Ghana had three of its athletes qualifying for the games, namely; Alem Mumuni, Charles Narh and Yussif Amadu,but investigation by Sportscrusader.com indicates that Alem and Narh are in USA training for the games on personal sponsorship whilst Amadu is in Ghana hoping to join his colleagues if the NPC acquires sponsorship.

Disabled sports in Ghana, is in a downward spiral over the difficulty in securing funds for the development of disabled sports and, considering the large pool of disabled athletes across the country, it might seem a bit disheartening considering the number of talents available.

Another clear case of how Ghana has failed disabled sport was when Ghana Amputee Football Association, suffered expulsion from the World Amputee Football Federation, for non-payment of affiliation fees.

Considering the large pool of disabled athletes across the country, why has it been so difficult for the country to unearth talents for the games, so that medals could be won, since the able-bodied athletes have failed in their quest to win honors for the country.

With barely 10 days to the start of the Paralympic games, I hope Ghana’s Paralympic dream will be saved and hopefully, the country will win its first medal in Paralympic sports.