The Netball Federation of Ghana (NFG) is set to commence preparation for the Africa Netball Cup competition in Botswana from November 26 to December 6.
Ghana is expected to compete against a host of African countries like South Africa, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and the host nation, Botswana.
This year’s edition of the competition has been in limbo following a standoff between the Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC), the country’s sports regulatory body and the Botswana Netball Association (BONA) over source of funding for the championship.
But the BNSC reconsidered and granted BONA’s request for permission to host the continental netball championship after the latter managed to secure funding from a Diamond company.
“Permission granted to host the above tournament was on the basis that BONA, with assistance of the commission, has acquired sponsorship to the tune of P300, 000.00 (three hundred thousand pula) from Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) towards the hosting of the event,” a statement from the BNSC sighted by the Ghanaian Times said.
According to the statement, the continental body, African Netball will cover the cost towards the officials’ upkeep and their annual general meeting which will run concurrently with the tournament.
The statement also indicated that BNSC and BONA have also secured the University of Botswana Indoor sports facility which is the recommended and preferred venue for the competition.
The President of the NFG, Rev Emmanuel Nikoi, told the Times Sports over the weekend that the development was a pleasant one for the netball fraternity after losing the opportunity to take part in the historic Accra 2023 Africa Games.
That, however, he said comes with a difficult challenge for the NFG to raise funds to prepare Team Ghana for the continental championship and therefore appealed to corporate Ghana for support in that regard.
“Preparation has been ongoing for the Golden Maidens (Ghana’s team) but our biggest challenge now is finance. We are hoping that the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) and other corporate institutions would come to our aid to make a representation.”
BY ANDREW NORTEY
