Team Ghana to train in Japan months ahead of Olympic games

Ben Nunoo Mensah[/caption] The Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) president, Ben Nunoo Mensah says Ghanaian athletes who qualifies for the Japan 2020 Olympic games will be moved to Tokyo very early to prepare ahead of the games. In an interview with Frank Osei Owusu (Winter) on Onua Sports, Monday, he said the GOC with the help of Ghana’s Ambassador to Japan, Frank Otchere has secured a five-star facility in Dr Hideyo Nugochi’s hometown Inawashiro to house all the athletes for three months and prepare for the games in 2020. According to the president, Ghanaian athletes do not perform at the Olympic games due to poor preparation so the GOC in 2017 gave the various National Federations amount of money ranging from $20,000 to $70,000 in order to support their activities to enhance their performance. President Nunoo Mensah recalled that in the olden days, Ghana could get as much as 32 athletes qualifying for the Olympic games because most of them were employed in the National Security Services so their only responsibilities were to train and prepare for competitions but now most of the athletes are unemployed and it makes it difficult for them to prepare adequately to qualify for competitions due to lack of finance. He advised that for Ghana to have more athletes qualifying for the Olympic games and winning medals, it needs to invest seriously in all sports especially the ones that are classified as least finance sports. “Infrastructural investment is very Paramount in building and unearthing talents to make least finance sports attractive, previous infrastructure investment made by the state was in football that is why football is the only attractive sports in the country. Football pitches were built in various regions to improve the game “, he stated. Talking about Ghana’s football team’s performance and their chances of qualifying to be part of Team Ghana at Tokyo 2020, he said he is very optimistic that Coach Ibrahim Tanko’s Black Meteors will excel in the ongoing under 23 AFCON campaign in Egypt. By Bismark Sarpong | 3news.com | Ghana]]>