Professor Peter Twumasi, Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), has said the Government deserved praise for its focus on improving sports infrastructure across the country.
He said the commitment had realized the facelift of all existing sports stadia, and the construction of new ones, and added that a resultant improvement in sporting outcomes, justified the investment.
The Director-General was addressing the First Post 2020 Olympic Games Workshop for the Ghana Olympic Committee, sports administrators and coaches, which was being held in Ho, and said the bold addition of ten new multipurpose stadiums which could handle over 25 different sports, and which were at various stages of the competition, would provide room for sports development in the country.
“Government is doing so well by improving sporting facilities,” he said, noting that the lone medal won at the 2020 Olympics, and which had become the first in the Fourth Republic, feathered the cap of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, whose sports development initiatives had paid off.
Prof. Twumasi said the Nation had been spurred on to Olympic excellence, and that with the support of improved science and technology, and training, its performance at the games could improve.
He therefore commended the determination of UHAS on the establishment of the School of Sports and Exercise Medicine and setting the pace for other tertiary institutions, and said an MOU with the School was underway to facilitate training, industrial attachment, and exchange programs with the NSA.
The Director-General said such undertaking was also being established with the KNUST and the University of Ghana and added that the establishment of a Training, Research and Education Unit of the NSA would enhance collaboration.
“We believe that with their contribution to the sports, our sports will never be the same,” he said.
Prof Twumasi said the Volta Region was “strategically located” with a topography ideal for multiple sports, and that plans to construct a standard multi-sports stadium for UHAS were far advanced.
The workshop brought together heads of the various sporting bodies and agencies working with the NSA and was held under the auspices of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) School of Sports and Exercise Medicine, and in collaboration with the NSA.
Mr. Kwame Amponfi Jr, Deputy Director-General, Technical of the NSA, said talent identification should consider the young, and focus on long-term abilities and not solely on immediate performance.
He said early counselors, and school physical education instructors must be empowered to spot and position viable talents early in their developmental process.
Mr. Koku Anyidoho, President for the Atta Mills Institute, and who was the guest of honor, said sports deserved a prominent seat at the table of the nation’s stakeholders.
He also called to focus and support sports development programs of institutions such as UHAS and assured that the Atta Mills Institute would avail as a platform for the advocacy of sports development.
Source – GNA
