Cricket Association presents equipment to selected school in Tamale

Tamale, June 16, GNA - The Ghana Cricket Association (GCA) on Tuesday presented a quantity of cricket equipment to some selected Senior High Schools (SHS) in the Tamale Metropolis. The equipments valued at over 20 million US dollars, which included cricket balls, wicket keeper, barters' gloves, knee pads and protective guards were presented to the Tamale Senior High School, Ghana Senior High School, Northern Business College, St. Charles Senior High School and the Tamale Girls Senior High School.
Mr Joshua Mensah, Secretary General of the GCA regretted that the game of cricket was not developed in the Northern sector and as such the equipment forms part of measures to develop the game of cricket in the area and make it popular among the youth.
He said cricket was an international sport just like football or basketball and asked the people and youth not to concentrate only on football but also develop interest in the less known sports which could also bring them up to fame.
Mr Mensah entreated Physical Education tutors of the Schools to take proper care of the equipment to ensure that they had a long life span and become useful to the students.
He suggested the development of community playing fields to ensure that students on holidays are able to continue with their training regimens.
Mr Mensah noted sporting activities were now more of business ventures and therefore entreated corporate bodies and NGOs to contribute to the development of cricket and other sporting games in the country. He said for many years, Ghana has struggled to win some laurels in various cricket competitions on the continent and said it was not until October last year when the country won the North West African Under-17 games in Nigeria.
The Secretary General said since then the country has subsequently won the world Division Three championship held in Benoni-South Africa and in April this year, Ghana hosted the North West Africa under 13, which she won.
Mr Alex Ibrahim, Public Relations Officer of the Northern Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) who represented Northern Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Sumani Nayina, urged the students to be disciplined and obey the instructions of their trainers for them to succeed. As part of the efforts to promote the cricket game, a course for the training of Physical Education tutors and some members of the National Sports Council has begun at the Tamale Sports Stadium. 16 June 09