Ghana’s Olympic Committee President, Ben Nunoo Mensah, has emphasized the need for increased resources to prepare athletes for the Olympics and other international tournaments.
He stated that while we are always eager to qualify for tournaments and win medals, we have not allocated the necessary resources to achieve this objective.
He noted that other countries have proved their willingness and seriousness to win medals at every event by dedicating adequate resources to prepare their athletes, but the same cannot be said for Ghana.
Ben Nunoo Mensah, speaking on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM’s Total Sports Review, complained that the current situation of our sports isn’t great.
He advocated for collaborative efforts to change the narrative by dedicating adequate resources to achieve our goals.
He was speaking about Ghana’s failure to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
He told host Nhyiraba Kwabena Asirifi that it was also disappointing that our female and male teams could have qualified despite the financial support they received from the GOC.
He revealed that “the GOC has consistently supported the various national teams to qualify for the Olympics, but it appears it has become very difficult for them to qualify. It is not too good.
“If we want to use the recently held all African Games in judging our performance I don’t think we will be able to address the challenges. The real serious issue affecting sports in Ghana is that we are not investing in sports. So long as you are not investing, I don’t think we will get any returns. We need to start investing in sports like other countries are doing. If we keep saying we have no resources to sponsor our athletes, then this would continue to be the results we are seeing.”
Mr. Nunoo Mensah stressed that the budget allocated for sports in Ghana is woefully inadequate.
“To start with, the budget allocated for sports in Ghana is woefully inadequate. Sports is a big investment. Countries across the world have realised how huge sports are, and so they have invested in them. They understand that sports can market the country better than any other marketing strategy. Once people know about your country, then your country will become attractive for tourists who are travelling into your country. So several countries are pumping a lot of money into sports development. Look at the Arab world; they have the money but don’t have the pedigree like the other countries, and so they are now hosting several sporting events so they will get the needed attention.”
He said there is no doubt about the fact that sports are what sold Ghana to the world and referenced the likes of Azumah Nelson, DK Poison, and Takyi, who won a bronze medal recently.
“Sports is a way of making your country attractive to the outside world, and so if we cannot take advantage of this opportunity, then what are we doing as a nation? If we don’t know that sports have a low value and yet can give us more returns, then what kind of marketing strategy are our leaders using?”
He further added that the Black Stars team is a high-value team, so spending money on them is necessary, but it should not be at the detriment of other sporting activities and teams that have proven their worth even with little or no sponsorship or support.
“I don’t think as a nation we are looking at our development priorities right. If we continue to see sports as ‘agroo’ and not as an nstrument that will bring us visibility, we will continue to witness this terrible performance. Our current state of sports is so horrible, and it is getting worse by the day. If we could get so many medals at the All African Games and yet we could not qualify our athletes for the Paris Games, it should tell you there is a problem.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
