Krowor NDC boycotts awards presentation over colours of medal strip

Accra, Sept. 15, GNA - Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for Krowor and some NDC members boycotted the presentation of medals to athletes at the 2016 Felix Sakora Athletics championship held at Teshie in Accra.

It was an annual fun competition launched last year by Mr Felix Sakora, a former Ghanaian athlete, to rekindle athletics in the youth of Teshie and beyond and hosted by the Past Athletics Association of Ghana (PAAG).

The Krowor NDC members had protested against the colours of red, white and blue of the Medal strips, which they claimed depicts the colours of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

No amount of persuasion from the organizers could change their stand and they left the grounds unceremoniously to the surprise of the athletes.

The presentation was later done by the organizers and some members of the PAAG.

Mr Sakora in an interview with the GNA Sports said the organization of the event was devoid of politics and that the strips of the medals are American colours, where he resides and described the situation as 'very unfortunate.'

In all about 500 athletes competed in the various track and field competitions, including arm-wrestling and sack-racing.

The teams, which participated in the competition are Fupac Athletics Club of Tema, Nungua Athletics Club, Teshie Athletics Club, La Athletics Club, El-Wak Athletics Club, Celebration Keep-fit Club, Winners Keep-fit Club, Elite Keep-fit Club, Teshie Keep-fit Club and Kaneshie Complex Keep-fit Club.

Mr Sakora urged parents to allow their children to add sports to their academic work to develop their athletics prospects.

He said sports, especially athletics, has a lot of job possibilities for the youth and therefore parents should not prevent their wards from participating in such competitions to exhibit their prowess.

He said during their athletics days, the facilities for training were there and they enjoyed the sports, which enabled Ghana to produce a number of sportsmen and women to the Olympics Games, who brought laurels for the country

Mr Sakora said currently, there are only few training grounds left, which had led to the sad state of athletics in the country.

He appealed to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to pay serious attention to athletics and not only on football so that more talents could be unearthed.

He called for more tartan tracks at the parks in the communities to unearth athletic talents.

Superintendent Stella Sedame, the District Police Commander for Ellembelle in the Western Region and a member of the PAAG appealed to individuals and philanthropic organizations to support the Felix Sakora Championship initiative to enable it to be replicated in other regions, to bring the sports alive.

She called on the sports authorities to re-introduce the schools and colleges Athletics Competitions to whip up the enthusiasm of the students.

She said this would go a long way to prevent the youth from going wayward.

Supt Sedame said the organization of the competition had helped to bring members of the association together and had also created the awareness of the existence of the PAAG for other past athletes to join.

Participants who came first, second and third respectively in the various competitions were awarded cash prizes, medals and certificates.

GNA