Greater Accra chief Baafi bemoans continuous neglect of basketball in Ghana

Greater Accra Basketball chairman, Benjamin Baafi,  has  reiterated the need for a gymnasium to be built in the country, fearing it could cripple the ambition of administrators who have worked hard to increase the game’s visibility in the country.

He observed that unless such a facility is built major stakeholders, including the state and fans, must forget not expect too much from the sport.

According to him, for an indoor sport like basketball with its attendant mass popularity it currently enjoys in the country, the non-existence of any and state-constructed indoor or outdoor infrastructure clearly inhibits its future prospects.

”Almost all West African nations that surround us have indoor basketball courts that prevent players and fans from adverse weather but Ghana is yet to boast even a single outdoor basketball court” Baafi said.

He implored the sector minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, to, as a matter of urgency, ensure the construction of a state-of-the-art basketball facility in the Greater Accra Region to augment the various successes chalked up by the sport at its rudimentary stages in the country.

”Our biggest problem is the facilities on which we play, as I speak to you we have none,” Mr. Baafi stressed this to the paper. He continued that ”all over the West African sub-region, ,there basketball arenas and gymnasiums”

Meanwhile basketball club Braves of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Customs Division, would participate in this year’s Africa Club Championship slated for Liberia in October.

The club, which won the Greater Accra Basketball League for the 14th year in succession, have begun camping in preparation for the tournament.

Basketball has been labelled as one of the so-called lesser-known sports despite the tremendous patronage it enjoys in the country. Despite the lack of infrastructure and equipment to facilitate the play of the game, the greater Accra League is still being organized and over 20 clubs represent in the first and second divisions, as well as the women’s division.”