Ghanaian amputee players win amputee champions league with Sahinbey Club
The President of Talent Hour 4 Disability, Mr. Samuel Obeng Ansah, a disability friendly organisation, has congratulated the Ghanaian amputee players who helped their foreign based team, Sahinbey Amputee Football Club, to win this year’s Amputee Champions League in Spain.
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Five foreign based Ghanaian amputee players— Richard Arthur Opentil, Mubarik Mohammed, Yussif Yahaya, Fusieni Iddi and Hamza Mohahmed helped their Turkish side Sahinbey Amputee Football Club to beat Wisla Krakow 3-2 to lift the amputee’s champions league trophy which was held in Spain.
The grand finale of the amputee’s champions league match was played on Sunday, November 13, 2023.
A Ghanaian amputee player, Mubarak Mohahmed, who won the best player in the Accra 2023 PARA game tournament in September 12, again won the best player in the 2023 Amputee champions league in Spain.
Similarly, another Ghanaian player, Yussif Yahaya also won the top goal Scorer of the tournament.
Mr. Obeng, who runs an amputee soccer team under the Talent Hour 4 Disability, said amputee football team could bring more laurels to the country if more attention was paid to the sector.
He has, therefore, appealed to the government to pay more attention to disability sports in order to encourage more people with disability to channel their energies into more profitable ventures.
For him, when people with disabilities find spaces in the disability sports such as the amputee football, it will help to reduce the menace of street begging.
Mr Obeng commended President Akufo-Addo, for giving his blessings for the hosting of the first African Para Games in Ghana in September when the African Paralympics President, Mr Sampson Dean, introduced the idea to him.
Ghana hosted the first ever African PARA Game from 2nd -13th September 2023 of which the Ghana National Amputee Team - The Black Challenge won the trophy.
Mr Obeng who has been promoting Amputee football since 2010 said amputee football could help alleviate poverty among persons with disabilities.
He said many countries, including Turkey, Spain and Uganda had taken lead in supporting amputee football, urging Ghana to follow suit.
He explained that Angola in 2018 won the Amputee World Cup in Mexico and that each player and the team officials were rewarded with 3-bedroom each.
“I believe that Ghana will gradually get there someday,” he said, pleading with the government and corporate Ghana to support the Ghanaian amputee football team to participate in the 2024 Cup of African Nations Amputee Football and World cup qualifiers.
He expressed the hope that “I’m confident that The Black Challenge - African Champions will retain and bring the Cup home.”