The Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) has successfully secured an ultra-modern training facility for Team Ghana ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
This was the upshot of a trip to the French capital, Paris and the city of Strasbourg by a team spearheaded by Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports (MoYS), Mr Evans Bobie.
Other members of the delegation were President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah, Chief Director of the MoYS, Alhaji Hafiz Adam and Ghana’s Chef de Mission, Mr Isaac AboagyeDuah – who doubles as President of the Ghana Tennis Federation (GTF) and GOC Treasurer.
In Paris, the team met with Ghana’s Ambassador to France, Madam Anna Bossman and her staff, and officially informed them about next year’s quadrennial biggest sporting festival and their involvement during and after the Games.
Madam Bossman assured the delegation of the embassy’s readiness to give its full, whole-hearted support to Team Ghana, urging the athletes to train very hard, and make the nation proud during the summer Games.
The delegation also had fruitful deliberations with members of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee as well as Manager of National Olympic Committee (NOC) Relations, Alejandro Recalde, and particularly the Africa and International Relations Director – Madame Sophie Lorant, where mutually beneficial ideas were exchanged.
The Evans Bobie-led team later travelled to the north-eastern part of France to the city of Strasbourg to look for potential training and camping venues for Team Ghana.
According to the GOC boss, the delegation met with the Mayor of Strasbourg – Madame Jeanne Barseghian and her Ghanaian-born Deputy Mayor, Mr OwusuTuffour, as well as Philippe Fischer-Dieskau, Head of Department of Sports and Madame Marie-Helene Wendling, Pool Manager at the Strasbourg Aquatic Centre – one of the training venues for Ghana’s swimming team.
They also visited various ultra-modern sport facilities including boxing, football, judo, taekwondo, hockey, weightlifting and athletics among others.
Mr Tuffuor was in Ghana last year to hold some discussions with Mr Nunoo Mensah on the forthcoming Games.
“The visit to Paris and Strasbourg were highly successful and we hope to build up on the deliberations we had for the good of the Games,” Mr Nunoo Mensah told the TimesSports yesterday, affirming that a facility has been secured for Team Ghana’s preparation.
“There shall be a couple of visits to France to seal up what has been struck so far.”
The Paris 2024 Olympics will be staged from July 26 to August 11 – with the introduction of a number of disciplines including breaking, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing.
BY JOHN VIGAH
