Sports

MoYS committed to development of cricket -Minister

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Mustapha Ussif, has said that the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) is committed to partnering the Ghana Cricket Association (GCA) to make cricket a major sport in Ghana by developing it across all 16 regions.

He said this in an address to the media at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on Thursday when he joined other officials to welcome the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup trophy tour party.

Also present to welcome the trophy were the Deputy Minister for Sports, Evans Opoku Bobbie, President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah and President of the GCA, Mr Emmanuel Asare.

The Men’s T20 World Cup Trophy Tour formed part of activities ahead of the cricket World Cup scheduled for Australia on October 16 to November 13, 2022.

He said, the presence of the trophy would create awareness about their objective to promote cricket across the 16 regions of Ghana.

“The dream is to develop talents that could be promoted to the national cricket team to compete at the global stage and possibly win the world cricket trophy in the next five years,” he stated.

Fortunately, he said, Ghana would be hosting the African Games which would feature cricket and was important to start preparation to make a mark in the event.

“We are going to use the cricket tour as a platform to promote the sport and motivate the players to do well as well as go to the grassroots to get more people involved,” he stated.

Ultimately, he said, Ghana would strive to make cricket part of school sports like it is in countries like India, Pakistan and England in order to make the sport popular.

The ICC Marketing and Promotions Manager, Shomeresh Shetty thanked the minister and other dignitaries for their hospitality.

He recognized the efforts of the Ghana Cricket Association (GCA) in the promotion of the sport in Ghana, adding that instances like the iconic trophy in Ghana would serve as a springboard to boost the efforts of the association.

“Hopefully, Ghana would develop to the level where they could compete for the trophy and the World Cup in a few years’ time,” he stated.

Ghana was the 14th country to receive the trophy for a two-day tour which ended yesterday after visits to the seat of Government(Jubilee House), the Parliament of Ghana, the Ga Mantse’s Palace, the Black Star Square and the Residence of the Australia High Commissioner in Ghana.

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