B/A Wheelchair basketball team wins Trophy

Kumasi, Feb. 22, GNA - The Brong-Ahafo Regional Wheelchair Basketball team white-washed their Ashanti Regional counterparts 21-5 to emerge winners of the two-day National Wheelchair Basketball competition of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled held in Kumasi. The third place was taken by Greater Accra Region who also beat Eastern Region 7-4 to the fourth position.

The competition, which was organized by the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled (GSPD) and sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, (USAID) was to unearth and select talented players to form the national men and women's teams for local and international competitions.

The Ashanti Region Women's side emerged winners when they also whipped Northern Region's team 4-0 in their final match with Eastern Region placing third with the Brong Ahafo Region coming fourth after receiving a 4-0 bashing at the hands of their Eastern Region counterparts.

The organizers at the end of the competition selected 20 men and 18 women out of the 200 disabled wheelchair basketball players who participated in the competition to form both the male and female national teams.

The best female top scorer award went to Angelina Obeng Boateng of Ashanti Region with the men's top scorer award going to Richard Mensah of the Brong Ahafo Region while the most valuable women player (MVP) award was taken by Charity Akphor of the Eastern Region with the male's award going to Alfred Quarshie from Greater Accra Region. The best behaved Women's team award went to the Western Region while that of the Male's was won by Central Region.

Madam Salifatu Musah of the National Sports Council (NSC), Tamale was selected as the acting coach for the women's team to be assisted by Jihaard Ibrahim also of the NSC, Tamale. The males' team has Mr Seth Owusu-Kumi of the Eastern Region as their coach with Mr Jamat Mohammed of the Ashanti Region as his assistant.

Mr. Abdul Aziz Mohammed, the National Chairman of the GSPD Sports wing of the Society in his closing remarks, commended the participants for demonstrating a highly competitive spirit and exemplary disciplinary behaviour and prayed that they would continue with such attitude and spirit in all competitions.

He expressed the GSPD appreciation to the USAID for donating 95,000 dollars towards the organization of the competition and for the purchase of wheelchairs for its members and appealed to the government, corporate bodies and philanthropists to also invest in disability sports. Mr. Aziz Mohammed commended the Ghana Social Club in Kumasi for its continued support to the Society by providing refreshments to the teams that train there as well as offering computer training for members as well as providing the team the free use of its facilities for competitions.

Mr. Gabriel Missodey, Northern Regional Sports Development Officer appealed to people in responsible positions, especially politicians and business to invest in sports, since it an area that can bring solace to many who have been neglected.

Mr. Beresford Ogbamey Mensah Amui Junior, The Central Region Sports Development Officer, urged the participants to continue to be disciplined at all levels so as to excel and remain in sports stressing the need for them to continue to train hard for future competitions. 22 Feb. 08