Accra, April 30, GNA - Ghana has benefited from a 14,000 Ghana cedis grant from the Australia government to organize training programmes for coaches, referees and administrators for some sporting disciplines in the country.

The programme, which will run for four years, is to enhance the development of sports at the grassroots level.

Mr Billy Williams, Australian High Commissioner who announced the package during the launch of the programme on Wednesday said the project emanated from the 10 million dollar Australia Sports Outreach Programme (ASOP) launched in 2005 to assist Commonwealth countries to improve upon their sporting capabilities.

The programme is also to enhance the capacity of local sports administrators, improve popular participation in sports and promote a healthy, active lifestyle among the population of the beneficiaries. The Ambassador recalled that Australia had a long relationship with Ghana in the area of sports especially in boxing and football and that the gesture was a confirmation of the marriage between the two countries.

Mr Williams explained that the 14,000 Ghana cedis annual grant, would be channeled to disciplines such as Athletics, Boxing, Volleyball, Table Tennis and Handball.

Prince Oduro-Mensah, Chief Executive Officer of the National Sports Council (NSC) commended the Australian government for the support and pledged that the resources would be put to good use. He said the disciplines were selected based on their comparative advantage as well as their popularity, adding that other disciplines would be tackled in due course.

Prince Oduro-Mensah noted that the programme was a new path that would place the NSC on a higher pedestal to oversee national sports administration and accelerate development.