Beach Soccer and Rugby dropped from Commonwealth Youth Games

Information reaching Ghanaweb indicates that Ghana's beach soccer and rugby teams will not be represented at this year's Commonwealth Youth Games.

This follows a communiqué by the Ghana Olympics Committee (GOC) last Sunday confirming Ghana's representatives at the event that is staged every four years to harness and develop talents for the future.

Ghana was initially to be represented by eight teams but due to financial constraints as explained by GOC president Ben Nunoo-Mensah, beach soccer and rugby were dropped leaving Ghana with just six teams.

When contacted, the President of the Ghana Beach Soccer Association Yaw Ampofo Ankrah said he has not officially been notified by the GOC.

If true, I will be very disappointed because we have had some fruitful talks regarding the Commonwealth Youth Games.

" It's rather unfortunate that "lack of funds" is still the chorus of excuse when it comes to sports promotion and development in Ghana. Obviously, the GOC and MOYS would stick to priority sports they can support. For us at beach soccer Ghana, we can only keep working harder to become priority one day".



Beach soccer since its inception in 2009 has made remarkable strides. The National team, Black Sharks have participated in 2 beach soccer AFCON tournaments as well as structured league that has been running since the introduction of the sand sport in Ghana.



The Ghana rugby national team is also on the rise and on Sunday defeated their Togolese counterparts 10-0 to win the Rugby Africa Regional Challenge (Group West 1) tournament.

The news would be a huge setback in their quest to take the sport to the next level.

When contacted, the President of the Ghana Rugby Football Union, Herbert Mensah said he has not been informed officially by the GOC and will only speak on the issue when he get an official information from the Ghana Olympics Committee