No boycott of All Africa Games; GOC clears the air

The Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), has said National Sports Federations (NSF) have not taken a decision to boycot boycot the 2015 All Africa Games (AAG) as reported in the media early this week.

A statement from the Public Relations outfit of the GOC said, the Federations dissociate themselves from a publication in the Thursday edition of the Daily Graphic with the caption “Sports associations boycott All-Africa Games”.

It said although the National Federations are of the opinion that if monies are not released timeously, attending the Games may be a waste of the scarce foreign exchange the country has, because preparations will not be adequate, the Federations have NOT espoused a boycott at this point.

The statement said the posture of the National Federations has always been to collaborate with Government and indeed, the pre-financing that they have been done in the past constituted an effort to support Government until the monies were released.

It said the National Federations will continue to insist on the release of funding for the Games and as long as funding is provided in reasonable enough time for preparation of athletes, Ghana will be well represented in Congo.

“On the other hand the late release of money will probably lead to a situation worse than Maputo and it is precisely that that the National Federation leaders are trying to avert.

“They want to meet the Minister to draw the attention of the Ministry to the consequences of not releasing funds on time in order not to send ill-prepared teams to the Games in the anticipation of miracles.