Games Athlete Support Grant For Ghanaian Athletes

The Ghana Olympic Committee has secured Olympic Solidarity Youth Olympic Games athlete support grant for four Ghanaian athletes to prepare towards the 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

The grant fall under the Olympic Solidarity’s Youth Olympic Games Preparation Grant for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. In a press release sent byRichard Akpokavie Secretary General of the GOC, he said the funding will cover some of the athlete’s domestic preparation costs and also travel expenses of the athletes to some major international qualifying competitions ahead of the Youth Olympic Games which will be held in the Chinese city of Nanjing, from 16th August to 28th August, 2014. The athletes are made up of two swimmers, Kwaku Addo and Ophelia Swayne, weightlifter Juliana Arko, and Abram Ayitey, a badminton player.

Accordingly, the GOC presented the funds to the athletes and their associations at a ceremony on Wednesday 7th August, 2013. The Athletes expressed the hope that the grant will help them realize their dreams of playing on the international stage. One of the recipients of the funds, Abram Ayitey said, “My dream is to play badminton at the highest level such as the Badminton World Championship at both junior and senior levels and at the Olympic Games.” This programme forms part of the GOC’s strategic plan to get young people training and competition opportunities ahead of major international competitions as part of its mandate to manage Ghana’s teams to the Olympic Games.

The process for the selection of the athletes involved the individual sports associations, who formally nominated young athletes for the grant to the GOC, before the local Olympic governing body submitted a final list to the IOC after a screening process. The IOC in turn selected four Ghanaian athletes from the list to be awarded the grant.