Ghana Hockey appeals for $1m to enable teams play in Hockey World tour.
The Ghana Hockey Association (GHA) has appealed to Corporate Ghana to support it raise $1 million to enable both the male and female national hockey teams participate in the Hockey World Round 2 League.
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While the national female hockey team will be participating in the Round 2 tournament being hosted in Valencia in Spain the males will be playing in Bangladesh and qualifying from that round will land Ghana at the Hockey World Round 3 League.
The national hockey teams got the opportunity to participate in the Hockey World League Round 2 tournament after winning the male and female divisions of the Hockey World Round 1 League held at the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium last week.
Kenya, Nigeria and Namibia were the other countries that participated in that tournament.
In an interview with Graphic Sports, the Vice-President of the GHA, Mr James Amo Gotfried said they were appealing to the sports ministry to support them financially to enable them meet their budgetary reacquirement, but said it was important for corporate Ghana to also come to their aid in that endeavour.
.He said both the Valencia and Bangladesh tournaments would be held in February next year, hence the need for them to start feverish preparations for the players to hit top form prior to the tournament.
“After qualifying to participate in the next tournament, the main challenge confronting us is financial. We need to raise a total of $1 million to prepare and participate in the next tournament, but the teams are prepared and resolved to make an impact to make Ghana proud.
“We need to start camping early next month to make sure the players are in good shape, but it all comes down to money, which is a big challenge on our shoulders now”, he bemoaned.
On the importance of the tournament in Spain and Bangladesh, Mr Amo said if Ghana made it at that stage, they would qualify to participate in the world cup in addition to the continental championship, hence the need to prepare very well to enable Ghana feature at the highest level so far as hockey is concerned .
He said participating in such a tournament would also give the players more exposure and improve the rankings of Ghana. “Competitions of this nature will help our national teams get more points and improve our rankings. They will also give them the needed exposure and make them world class players,” he explained.
He lauded Corporate Ghana for being their backbone in supporting them to participate in continental tournaments over the years, and said the time had come for them to help them at this stage.
“ They have been our backbone over the years and we hope they will again come to our aid at this stage again,” he noted.
On what happens should the GHA fail to raise the $1 million to enable the national hockey teams participate in the next tournament, Mr Amo noted “ the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) is likely to slap a ban on us so far as international tournaments are concerned and that will be a disaster”.
The situation, he said, would also affect Ghana’s international image and ranking.
“The women are ranked second in Africa and the males fourth so any ban will affect the development of the game seriously so we cannot afford to avoid playing in such a prestigious tournament”, he noted.
He said hockey as a sport was the first to take Ghana into the World Cup in 1975 and therefore, the need for all stakeholders to join hands with the GHA to generate keen interest of the sport among the youth .
“It had some successes in the past and I believe that with a little effort we can get there again to generate much interest among the youth”, Mr Amo emphasised.