Sports

NFG hails selection of netball for Accra 2023 AG

The President of the Netball Federation of Ghana (NFG), Rev Emmanuel D. Nikoi, says the selection of the sport for the Africa Games 2023 in Ghana is a motivation for practitioners in the country.

“We have been neglected for a very long time and that has affected the passion of its stakeholders,” Rev Nikoi said at a general meeting of the NFG at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday.

The meeting had in attendance coaches and administrators from the regions deliberating on plans to stage a successful competition in Ghana and activities for the federation in the year 2022.

Addressing the participants, Rev Nikoi said the continuous neglect of the sport in Ghana was a huge disincentive to not just the administrators whose hard work and commitment ends up being waste of time but the others that put in hours of the time to promote the discipline.

“As administrators, we do so much to get competitions for the clubs and players to be active but in the end, nothing happens. Players train regularly anticipating there will be a few competitions but nothing happens. Coaches and Umpires experience similar situations.”

According to the experienced sports administrator, the selection has come as a great news for the netball fraternity in Ghana with every stakeholder excited to play their roles effectively as they hope the event will serve as a catalyst for the revival of the sport.

Despite the long absence on the international scene, Rev Nikoi, said the NFG has been able to stage a few events which has been very successful.

He hinted that ahead of an expected visit by global netball bosses to Ghana to discuss the event with the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS), National Sports Authority (NSA), the NFG and other stakeholders, the NFG has put in place events geared at raising a formidable team for the games.

He announced that league will commence on March 26 at the Accra Sports Stadium, followed by a technical course for the training of umpires in May 14-21. It will be supervised by technical experts from Netball Africa.

On May 27 to June 5, the NFG will participate in the National Olympic Games at the Bukom Sports Emporium before the national team camp on June 2-23 ahead of a trip to Morocco.

He said the league matches and knockout games would be played through the months of August and September host an international friendly or an anticipated ECOWAS netball tourney to be crowned with a Champion of Champions game to close the year.

BY ANDREW NORTEY

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