Minster of Youth and Sports Minister commends Volleyball team

Accra, June 28, GNA - The Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah on Thursday commended the National Volleyball Team, the Black Spikers for winning the West Africa Volleyball elimination Championship in Niamey, Niger.

The Black Spikers have qualified to represent the sub-region in the final Volleyball World Cup qualification championship scheduled for Cairo, Egypt, this year.

Mr Asiamah hailed the team for their commitment towards the successful story despite the challenges they encountered, especially travelling to Niger by road.

He also thanked the Ghana Volleyball Association (GVA), headed by Paul Atchoe, for their development plan to grow the sport at the grassroots level and assured them of the Ministry's support.

The Team Manager, Ahmed Buda said the team travelled on a commercial bus (Imperial Express) to Niamey, and that, the bus developed faults at Nkawkaw and Tamale and had to call for back up before arriving safely at Niamey.

In Niamey, the 20-man team had to squeeze themselves into the bucket of a Toyota Hilux pick-up to the game centre and had to play their first game just after having lunch because they missed the technical committee meeting prior to the start of the game.

Ahmed Buda commended the players for not giving up; despite the troubles they had to go through and finished the championship unbeaten.

President of the GVA, Mr Atchoe said the Black Spikers would travel to Cairo for the Africa qualification championship scheduled for October 9 to 25.

He said three countries from Africa would qualify to represent the continent at the World Championship to be held in Italy next year. GNA