One of Ghana’s professional Sports Administrators, Francis Nana Yaw Asare, has been appointed by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the first ever Africa Beach Games to be held in Sal, Cape Verde.

The Games is expected to commence on Friday, June 14, 2019 to Sunday, June 23, 2019.

Asare has been appointed as a National Olympic Committee (NOC) Relations Manager and would be in charge of 24 English speaking African countries for the Games including Ghana.

Speaking in an interview with the media, Asare said he would officially start work at the end of February and end in June when the games is expected to end.

He explained that he is expected to develop and manage prudent working relationships with assigned NOCs through proactive communication and information sharing.

He is also expected to provide solutions for NOCs during pre-games and games period and also manage projects as delegated by the Head of NOC Relations and Services.

He said he would like to use his expertise in a successful beach games in Sal come June.

Francis holds a Masters in Sports and Olympic Studies from the University of Tsukuba in Japan and currently finishing his second masters in Sports Ethics and Integrity from the Swansea University in UK.

While in Ghana, he worked with the National Sports Authority (NSA) as a Sports Development Officer and was also the Secretary General for the Ghana Cricket Association (GCA) between 2010 and 2015.
He was also the SG for Ghana Baseball and Softball Association as well as the Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU).

He was also Ghana’s Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and also an Anti-doping chaperone in 2017 for the Test Winter Championships for 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in Korea.

He told the paper that he would be looking forward to contribute his quota through his experiences for Ghana to have a successful host of the 2023 Africa Games.

The 2019 Sal Africa Beach Games will involve participants from 54 African countries and will involve 11 different sport disciplines with up to 1,000 athletes.

The sports involved are; athletics, basketball 3x3, beach handball, coastal rowing, beach football, freestyle football, beach tennis, beach volleyball, karate kata, kite surfing and open water swimming.

It would also serve as a qualification platform for the 2019 World Beach Games in San Diego, USA in October.