National Sports Federations to petition Prez Mahama

The National Sports Federations (NSF's) are set to present a petition to President John Dramani Mahama concerning the challenges confronting their outfits.

Speaking at a Press Conference at the Theodosia Okoh National Hockey Stadium on Tuesday, President of the Ghana Badminton Association Nestor Ghalley stated that, the least financed disciplines have being silent on many issues and believes it’s time to tell the general public what the real situation.

Ahead of the All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville, the NSF's were left with an option to boycott the competition, but they received assurances from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, that funds will be released to enable them participate in the Games.

However, the associations stated that the funds released for the event were inadequate for their participation.

As a result of this, the President of the Handball Association Mr. Ken Dzirasah stands to lose his personal property due to debt he incurred on behalf of the National team.

The presidents of, Handball, Tennis, Volleyball, Netball, Badminton, and the other least-financed sports stated that ‘‘we want to tell Ghanaian the problems we encounter each day. We have being silent all these while and we think this is the time to voice out.

"As a federation, we want to be united to present our petition to the president. We want to draw his attention to some of the promises he made in state of the nation of the address, when he called on the ministry to give attention to the least financed sports’’.

The NSF stressed that, young talents should not go waste and that equal attention must be paid to them so as to realize their full potentials and develop them with the standard facilities and resources.

The president of the Ghana Weightlifting Association (GWA) Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah added that, with little support, team Ghana was able to bring home medals adding ‘‘Mahama is a listening president and will attend to our plea. If he on his own without prompting us went to parliament to say investment should be made to the least financed sports, then I don’t think this prompting from us he will delay.

"If you could look at the athletes who participated in the Games, they sent a clear signal that even with the little preparation and support, they will do more for mother Ghana’’, he added.

Team Ghana won two 19 medals at the 11th edition of the All Africa Games including two gold, eight silver and nine bronze.