National Disabled wheelchair basketball competition

Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - The much-awaited National Disabled Wheelchair Basketball competition comes off from Friday, 15th to Saturday, 16th February at the Ghana Social Club in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.

The two-day competition is to create a forum for the Society to select talented players to form a men' and women' national wheelchair basketball teams capable of participating in both international and local competitions.

Mr Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, Chairman of the Sports Wing of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, who up-dated the GNA Sports in Accra on preparations so far made towards the competition, said all regional representatives are expected to arrive in Kumasi to prepare for the D-day.

The competition is being sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with a grant of 95,000 dollars to the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled under the USAID Sports Diplomacy Initiatives, which is geared toward advancing the Agency's policy of inclusion for people with disabilities.

Mr Mohammed said part of the grant would be used to purchase modern basketball chairs, hand bikes, bikes for single leg amputees and training programmes in the maintenance of the chairs.

The Chairman urged the public and corporate bodies to endeavour to attend the competition in their numbers to support and encourage members of the Society.

He said that the opening ceremony would have in attendance the Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Prof. Dominic Fobih, the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu, the US Ambassador, the Mayor of Kumasi and other important dignitaries.