Accra
(Greater Accra) 18 August 2000
Mr. Enoch
Teye Mensah, Minister of Youth and Sports, on Thursday unveiled government's
incentive package for the country's athletes due for the Olympic games in
Sydney when they called on him at his office before leaving for their final
training tour in Holland.
The
package, which is similar to what the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) had
promised them is made up of 5,000 dollars for winning gold, while silver and
bronze medallists would received 3,000 dollars and 2,000 dollars respectively.
In
addiction, the athletes would earn 300 dollars for the preliminary rounds, 500
dollars for the quarterfinals, 800 dollars for the semis and 1200 dollars for
getting to the finals.
He said any
athletes who wins gold, would come home with not less than 16,000 dollars, based
on what the person would earn from the GOC and his Ministry, and urged them to
go out there and be worthy ambassadors.
Mr. Adjin
Tetteh, Chairman of the Ghana Amateur Athletics Association (GAAA) advised the
athletes not to defect during the games because it creates an embarrassing
situation for the country.
He implored
them to return home and solicit the support of the association before accepting
offers from scouts who might express interest in them to enhance their
international contracts.
Colonel
George Brock, leader of the delegation tasked the selected athletes, who have
not yet made the required time for the competition, to use the final training
tour to do that because they would not hesitate to send any athlete back home
from Holland.
Beaming
with a lot of confidence at the fare-well meeting, Nathaniel Martey, a 400
metres runner, said Ghanaians should expect gold medals because the entire
contingent is determined to bring joy to the nation.
"Ghanaians
should expect the ultimate since none of us is scared of competing with the big
names in track and field. Athletics is an individual sport and anything at all
can happen on the tracks." The
athletes leave tonight for Holland for the final leg of their training tour.
GRi.../