Rename lesser-known sports — Otumfuo
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has urged the sports authorities to rename the ‘lesser-known sports’ tag placed on less-resourced sporting disciplines and be prepared to invest in all the 37 sports associations if Ghana’s impact is to be felt at international events.
Advertisement
He said it was sad sports authorities had still not realised that some individual sports and other group sports had brought more laurels to Ghana than football.
‘As a nation, we should know that all of us cannot play football. That is why every talent should be encouraged and supported because we may never know which discipline would make Ghana sports great again,’ the Asantehene, a known golfer told executive members of both the Ashanti regional Tennis Association and the Ghana Tennis Federation.
The team, together with some selected players who are currently participating in the national tennis rankings in Kumasi, called on the Asante king at his Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.
The ranked players would form the core of the national team squad, the Golden Rackets, to represent Ghana at the next Davis Cup in June.
The Asantehene, apparently distraught by the current state of some less-financed sporting disciplines, including tennis, said it was time that investment was made in all disciplines to reduce the apparent envy between footballers and players of the other disciplines.
He said football, although arguably the largest sporting discipline, cannot take all the resources meant for the Sports Ministry ‘because if care is not taken, other disciplines would die.’
The Asantehene noted that a lot of players from other disciplines rather than football had abondoned sports because they had been frustrated for far too long.
He urged the Ministry of Youth and Sports to take a second look at the issue and correct it.
The vice-president of the GTF, Isaac Aboagye Duah, said he was optimistic Ghana could bounce back to Africa-Euro Zone II if enough money was pumped into the team’s preparation.
He said tennis had a great potential of making ‘Ghana big’ at the world stage if only more attention could be given to it.