Financial challenges crush young National basketball stars dream

Inadequate finances has been identified as the main reason behind Ghana Under-16 Male National Basketball Team’s failure to represent the nation in this year’s continental championship.

The 2017 FIBA Africa U-16 Championship is taking place in Mauritius where teams are competing for places at next year’s Under 17 World Cup due to be held in Argentina.

Having trained close to two months, young players selected to the team had dreams of representing the West African country dashed as news regarding allocation of financial resources broke.

Per reports by Basketball Ghana, the team needed approximately $40,000 to make the trip but unsuccessful attempts securing money to cover the expenses proved futile.

This is the latest financially induced botched attempt on teams cued to played in international competitions as several club and national teams both female and male, have cancelled trips due to lack of support.

The West African nation better known for football has had its rising presence in basketball curtailed by money problems.

Club sides have consistently missed out on competitions such as the FIBA Africa Zone 3 Championship.