Minister visits weightlifting team

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, is hopeful that Ghana could win more medals, particularly in weightlifting, during the forthcoming All Africa Games in Brazzaville.

The minister’s confidence stems from the enthusiasm and zeal he saw of members of Ghana’s weightlifting team, Black Cranes, during an intensive training session yesterday.

Dr Ahmed, who visited the team at the newly constructed training centre at the Accra Sports Stadium to ascertain conditions under which they trained, also commended the Ghana Weightlifting Federation (GWF) for encouraging young athletes to take up the sport.

He, therefore, advised the athletes to continue to be serious with their training and told the athletes to “go to the All Africa Games and win medals”.

“I am happy about the younger ones because it will help equip them with the necessary skills at that tender age,” he added

Dr Ahmed said he would pay a visit to the security agencies to see how best to rope in more athletes into the services as a way of giving them permanent employment.

He added that when the sports people were permanently engaged it would make them concentrate on their respective disciplines without distractions.

GWF president, Ben Nunoo Mensah, thanked the minister for the visit and expressed the hope that it would go a long way to inspire the athletes.

“I am sure this visit by the Minister of Youth and Sports will add value to what we already have. This is because for close to five years we have a minister visiting us as members of the weightlifting team,” he noted.

The weightlifting chief further stressed the need for those in charge of sports to work to grow all the disciplines, since sports is another avenue to employ or engage a lot of the youth of the country.