Amputee Soccer Team Cry Foul

The national amputee soccer team, the Black Challenge, are demanding equal treatment as meted out to their able-bodied counterparts, the Black Stars. The team�s preparation for this year�s World Cup in Mexico is faced with financial and logistical challenges. It took the intervention of Nana Yaw Darkwa, president of Youth Icons Ghana, a non-governmental organization (NGO), to save the nation an embarrassment. Daily Guide Sports gathered that the team was embarking on the Mexico trip without jerseys. Even their trip, scheduled for last Saturday, was in doubt at press time due to financial constraints. The Youth Icons boss succeeded in engaging his Indian partners, STAG, to manufacture sets of jerseys worth thousands of dollars for the team (each player entitled to six jerseys). And when the jerseys finally arrived early November, clearing it from AFGO also became an issue. Nana Yaw said, �It is unfortunate our brothers will have to go through this ordeal.� President of the Ghana Amputee Football Association Alexander Tettey said at the team�s Theodosia Oko Hockey Pitch Hostel that �we want equal and fair treatment.� The team was scheduled to fly out last Saturday but travel documentation challenges robbed them the opportunity. They were still in town at press time, making them potential losers of their first game against England scheduled for today. They would later take on their Angolan counterparts this week. Indications were that officials were putting things together to send a delegation to the tournament venue to explain what accounted for the �no show� in case the team could not fly out yesterday evening. Twenty-five countries will be vying for honours in the tournament which kicks-off today to December 8. Meanwhile, the Youth Icons Ghana president has presented the jerseys and track suits to the team.