No Budget For Baseball Tourney

Ghana has not budgeted for hosting the proposed Under-17 African Baseball Championships scheduled for the 8th to 15th of September this year. The tournament is the first of its kind for junior baseball players in Africa and it was expected that eight countries would participate.

However Ghana says facilities like training pitches for participating countries and overall logistics including a standard baseball pitch and materials for public education on the game are not available.

Speaking to Joy Fm the Acting Chief Executive of the National Sports Council Brigadier George Brock said Ghana received the mandate to host the tournament slated for September in July and is therefore not on the calendar of the National Sports Council for the year 2001.

He contends that the African Baseball Association should have informed Ghana earlier to commence preparations for the tournament.

Meanwhile the chairman of the Ghana Baseball and Softball Association, Naval Captain Asubonteng says even though the tournament has been on the Association’s calendar since the beginning of the year, the confirmation of mandate to host the African under-17 tournament came rather late from the African Baseball Association.

Joy FM sports gathers that a standard baseball pitch can be constructed within 72 hours and the organizers had planned that all participating teams would play on one field.

Overall estimated budget for the tournament is about 50,000 US Dollars.