'Let’s respect our sports heroes’

Ghanaians hardly get international champions from, but Samuel Anim who led Ghana to the Commonwealth Games in 2014 as the captain of the cycling team, nursed the dream to break that jinx one day.

Unfortunately, the young man who won the Cowbell national cycling competition last year, died tragically three weeks ago, before he could accomplish that lofty ambition.

When death of such nature occurs to our heroes, one begins to figure out if that could have been avoided or is it because we do not cherish the gallant men and women who fly the flag of Ghana high?

Many are the cases of sudden deaths across the globe as in the case of Anim.

But the question is, was it negligence on the part of the sportsman or the motor driver who hit him at dawn time on the hills of Aburi while training ahead of the Congo-Brazzaville All Africa Games (AAG) to be held in September?

Many are of the view that lesser-known sports here in Ghana are least attended to – and it is high time the nation’s sportsmen and women are well taken care off.

How can a national champion be training in the foggy hills of Aburi all alone without any form of security in view of the implications. There was an issue with poor visibility and speeding vehicles and one would have thought that the National Cycling Association (NCA) could provide some sort of protection for Anim and his colleagues preparing for the AAG.

Interestingly enough, he collided with the motor resulting his bicycle falling from his hands and therefore banging his head on the on the street.

According to a source, he did not die instantly and if a swift medical attention had been provided, our hero might have survived.

Athletes of such pedigree must be treated as such for the development and the sustainability of our sports. He is gone but one personally believes the state must give him a befitting burial and make sure the family he left behind is well taken care of.

Indeed, the 26-year-old Anim died in the line of duty and so must be celebrated.

One familiar quote from William Shakespeare said: “If we are marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honour.”

This a food for thought!