The Deputy Sports Minister, Vincent Oppong Asamoah has suggested that the country should focus on sporting activities that are producing good results for the country at international events.
Asamoah’s proposal, if taken, could see a categorization of the various sporting disciplines in the country and those high up the performance ladder will be given “priority” in terms of funding.
The administrator was speaking following the arrival of Team Ghana from the All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville where the country won only 19 medals – two gold medals, eight silver medals and nine bronze.
He believes this approach would allow those high yielding sports receive the needed financial support.
“We need to prioritise the sports and those that are doing so well -showing signs; we give them some priority in terms of financing and then encourage the rest to come to that level,” he told Joy Sports.
The minister further explains that in this scheme: “There is a clear cut guideline to enable [a sport] move from category C to A; from A to B, then it will encourage all other sports to do [well] so that they can [also] get to better categories [where] they can get all the funding they need.
This plan if implemented, would not be unique to Ghana as it is standard practice in many countries across the world. The government of New Zealand under its Performance Enhancement Grants scheme has over the years “targeted athletes and teams with direct financial support to enable them to train full time, in order to maximise their international performance.”
In the United Kingdom as well, the World Class Performance program ensures that “athletes have access to outstanding support personnel and training environments to ensure they are among the best prepared in the world.”
There is also the Athlete Performance Award (APA) where athletes receive direct funding that covers their living and sporting costs
