Soccer News of Tuesday, 27 August 2002

Source: gna

GHATEL ladies disappointed on arrival

The Greater Accra Telecom soccer team, GHATEL Ladies, arrived in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Saturday ahead of a five-nation tournament to a shock news that, they have not been officially invited for the fiesta which kick-started last Sunday.

The Ghana News Agency investigations have gathered that the organizers were not expecting the Ghanaians though they have been verbally invited.

It is the second time the Ghanaians, who won the trophy last year are participating in the four-year old tournament but strangely, were not officially welcome on arrival.

The GNA has gathered that as a result of that, the team has not being catered for in the programme. At the time of filing this report, there had not been any official statement regarding whether the defending Champions would be allowed to participate in the tournament or not. Sources say the Ghanaians participation would depend on whether or not all the teams invited honour the call.

So far, only Senegal, Benin and GHATEL ladies have arrived - and if things should stand the way they are, the Ghanaians could be allowed to play. The GNA has leant that Ghana, the only Anglophone country in the tournament could have been sent back home on arrival but for the cordial relationship between her and Burkina Faso. GHATEL had earlier on been informed that the tournament was commencing on Monday, August 26, but realized on arrival that it was scheduled to commence last Sunday.

In spite of the difficulties, the players are in high spirit and have vowed to perform even better when given the chance. Meanwhile, the Ghanaian community in Ouagadougou is very disappointed at the embarrassment caused the nation.