The President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah together with other senior committee executives, have presented scholarship packages to Ghanaian athletes directly from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
At a short ceremony on Wednesday 15th February at the Ghana Olympic headquarters,Mr Nunoo Mensah explained why the much sought after funding from IOC is so important.
The scholarships form part of the International Olympic body’s support for the Ghana Olympic family towards a comprehensive and strategic advancement of the various arms of the Ghana Olympic movement most especially the welfare of athletes.
“What we are witnessing today is the culmination of years of good practice and hard work by our athletes and the GOC administration. All of this falls in line with our drive to solicit and secure support for the National Federations as well as consistent, high performance athletes”.
Each of the locally based beneficiaries will receive the equivalent of Ghc9,000 cedis every month from the IOC funding and Scholarship package.
The athletes beneficiaries include Ghana’s number one make swimmer Abeiku Jackson and his female team mate Adjoa Forson.
The boxers are all medalists from the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham; Abraham Mensah, Wahid Omar and Joseph Commey.
From Judo, Rashid Alhassan has been selected.
From Weightlifting, Sandra Owusu and Winifred Ntumi both qualified for the grants.
In Athletics, among Ghana’s top performing track and field stars are long jumper Deborah Acquah and sprinter
Benjamin Azamati will receive at least $750 dollars a month from the IOC.
The GOC President used the occasion to make a passionate appeal to the media, urging them to do more whilst acknowledging and thanking them for the loyal support over the years.
The GOC President was flanked by the President of the Ghana Swimming Association Mrs Delphina Quaye who handed over the cheques to the athletes present.
Also present was Mr Michael Agbotsi the competitions coach of
Ghana Weightlifting.
Miss Farida Idris the administrative Manager of the GOC elaborated on the strict IOC criteria and the processes that resulted in successful applications.
She stated that the scholarships are so important under the Olympic Solidarity Committee for our boys and girls once they are identified as national athletes.
“That’s the first basic step and obviously they must be of good behavior, must have exhibited consistent high performances and most importantly, Athletes should not be involved in any doping violations”.
Miss Iddris who is also a senior official of swimming Ghana and an appointed member of the international body FINA, confirmed that several orientation sessions with athletes had been held and would continue to ensure compliance with the IOC conditions for scholarships and funds.
Source: GOC Communication
Source: africanentertainment.com
