Hammond, answer to Ghana`s striking woes?

As the days roll by, so is Indian-based Ghanaian forward Abel Hammond peaking in performance, attracting media attention in foreign land, and sending strong signals for his readiness to answer the Black Stars' goal scoring problem.

Already, the 24-year-old right-footed 1.84m tall striker has recorded an impressive four goals in five games for his club - East Bengal, and emerged as the most valuable player on two occasions.

A former Liberty Professionals player, Hammond in an interview with The Chronicle Sports revealed that he was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that he is ripe for the Black Stars striking role, and that he has an antidote to the team's striking woes.

“Indian soccer is not as low as some people think it is, in fact, it is highly competitive because there are many players from all over the world who come to India to play football”.

“They come from countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, Italy and other countries,” was his response to how competitive the India league is.

The pacy and intelligent striker began his soccer career with Aces Salami, where his brilliance attracted the attention of officials of Accra Academy School where he was enrolled on a scholarship nine years ago.

Luck came in the way of the young striker to join the national U-17 soccer side, the Starlets, but that coincided with an invitation from the President of Italia Serie A side -Brescia, to feature for the junior side where he made tremendous strides.

Hammond featured regularly for clubs like Calcio, formally known as Citadella in 2002, Cologna Veneta, where his exploits powered him to the position of an assistant captain in the Italian lower league.

Managerial problems crept into his career temporarily, which compelled him to return to his native land where he featured for Liberty Professionals briefly in 2007.