The National Unity Games slated for Baba Yara sports stadium in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi this August has been postponed due to lack of funds as government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of funding a competition that has been the platform for unearthing budding and talented world class athletics for the country.
Over four thousand sports men and women who will be competing in various disciplines are billed to represent their respective regions at the said competition, but due to lack of adequate logistics, the sporting event has been thrown out of gear and has been put on ice for now.
The lack of sponsorship has been a perennial bane for Ghana sports and has led to the stifling of sports development in the country, especially disciplines such as track and field, tae Kwando, volleyball, handball, weightlifting, hockey, tennis and a host of others.
Traditionally, football and, to a lesser extent, boxing have enjoyed the lion share of sponsorship and funding in Ghana though all the aforementioned disciplines have brought fame and fortune to the country.
As a result of government’s inability to fund the Unity Games, the Sports Minister, Mr. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, has directed that the National Sports Authority should woo corporate Ghana so that they can pump some respectable levels of sponsorship for the sporting festival.
The lack of sponsorship has resulted in inadequate preparations by the country’s sports men and women for major international tournaments. The outcome of the country’s shambolic preparations towards sporting events Ghana is humiliated at these sporting events.
The national hockey team representing the nation at the ongoing World Junior Hockey championship in Germany and the country’s representatives at past Olympics Games would bear testimony to this.
Due to lack of funding and sponsorship of sports in the country, our representatives for sporting events are not motivated to give off their best. Those who excel due to sheer bravado and determination are not rewarded for their exemplary conducts.
Some of the country’s enterprising and world class athletics, who represented the country and won medals at international sporting events, are still owed their rewards.
Some have carried out their threats and are now representing other well-endowed European countries where they can access good and modern sporting infrastructure cum equipment to develop to their fullest potential and realized their aspirations.
Until the country put in place an elaborate and sustainable plan in place to develop modern sporting infrastructure and fund sports, Ghana will continue to falter at major international sporting events and lose it talented athletics to other countries where the pasture is greener.
