Joshua Clottey tours Central Region

Cape Coast, Sept. 4, GNA- The government has been urged to allocate enough funds to support the promotion of amateur boxing and other lesser known sports disciplines especially at the grassroots level. Mr Mathew Doe, Chairman of the Central Region Football Association made the appeal at Cape Coast when he welcomed Joshua Clottey, the IBF Welterweight champion during his one-day of the Region.

"I must be frank, much has not been done as a nation to put more funds into the development of amateur boxing, table tennis, athletics and handball among other sports".

He therefore appealed to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports to take a serious look at putting up structures and initiatives aimed at addressing such shortcomings for the overall development of sports in the country.

Mr Doe also appealed to the government to develop infrastructure and provide the needed equipment and to also motivate sports men and women so that the poor outings of Ghana at the just-ended Olympic Games in Beijing, "will be a thing of the past". He commended Clottey for bringing the title to Ghana and hoped his visit would inspire other professional and amateur boxers in the Region to train harder to lift high the flag of Ghana by winning more titles for the country.

In an interview later with GNA Sports, Clottey advised boxers in the Region to train and refrain from drugs and alcohol and to ensure that they aspire to chalk success.

The tour of the IBF champion was organized by 'Ahomka' FM station in Elmina in conjunction with the Regional branch of the Ghana Boxing Authority and was aimed at motivating boxers in the Region to emulate the champion.

Clottey had earlier paid courtesy calls to the Regional Co-ordinating Council, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, Omanhene of the Oguaa Traditional Area and Nana Kojo Conduah IV, Omanhene of Edina Traditional Area. 5