Wa, (U/WR) March 3, GNA - The Upper West Regional Sports Development Officer, Mr. Thomas Sanye has appealed to District Assemblies to help to develop the people's interest in sporting activities to unearth talents as well as unite the people through sports.

He regretted that even though sports is seen as an effective tool that could be used to foster unity and peace among the people, some District Assemblies in the region have not shown any interest in participating in sporting events.

Mr Sanye's lamentation stemmed from the fact that out of the eight Districts of the Region, only four districts participated in the Inter-District Cross-Country Athletics competition organised by the Regional Sports Secretariat despite a written notice to given to all the Assemblies.

The competition was organised to select a formidable team to represent the Upper West Region at the Inter-regional cross-country athletics competitions in Sunyani on March 15 this year.

He said the various District Chief Executives were served with letters but only the Wa Municipal, Wa West, Lawra and Nadowli Districts participated in the event.

The men's athletes covered a distance of 12 kilometres with the women athletes going on a seven-kilometre race in the competition. Seven men and five women have so far been selected to represent the Region at the national competition in Sunyani.

Mr. Sanye called on the selected athletes to continue to train harder to win more laurels for the Region and to progress to be selected for the national athletics team. Mr. Paul S. Hamit, Upper West Regional Athletics Coach said he would scout for distance runners and monitor their training to keep them in good shape for future competitions.