Joseph Yamin
Government has described as a worrying trend, the frequency with which some Ghanaian sports personalities refuse to represent the country at international levels, with some switching nationality.
According to him, the development does not speak well of the country.
Ignatius Ghansah, one of Ghana’s prominent athletes recently announced his nationality switch from Ghana to run for the Netherlands, in the ongoing IAAF championship in Moscow, Russia.
He was followed by Heptathlete Margaret Simpson, who announced her decision not to run for Ghana, alluding the lack of welfare by the national federation towards athletes as one of the main reasons behind her decision to quit.
Margaret is reported to be considering competing for Mauritius where she is based since 2003.
But speaking on Adom TV’s Badwam Thursday, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Joseph Yamin says steps efforts are being made to nip the development in the bud.
Mr. Yamin said announced, he will hold discussions with Margaret Simpson today, to attempt to address the issues she is faced with, to convince her to rescind the decision to switch nationality.
The Deputy Sports Minister further disclosed that, his Ministry has mapped out plans to put up more sporting facilities across the country, to help develop and train sporting personalities for the country.
These include the building 20 tennis courts in selected District Assemblies, a multipurpose gym at Bukom in Accra to assist boxing in addition to ongoing construction of the $30 million stadium in Cape Coast, the Central Regional capital.