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The Ghana Football Association (GFA) Technical Director, Francis Oti-Akenten has identified three players from the Airtel Rising Stars Competition who are potential candidates to be called to the Black Starlets. A statement issued in Accra by Maame Dufie Cudjoe, Corporate Communications and External Affairs Manager and copied to the Ghana News Agency the coach identified three players who are potential candidates to be called to the Black Starlets, the nation�s Under 17 team, to camp in preparation for upcoming national assignments. �We have already been to Takoradi, Konongo, Wa and now Tamale. We have seen some fantastic players and in Tamale we have seen many potential national team players like Abubakar Malik the male best player and other two players from this zone who we asked to get ready to be called into the national U-17 team,� the statement said. The former Black Starlets coach stated in an interview at the end of Airtel Rising Stars Zone four competition; expressing his happiness, particularly, with the innovative structure of the competition since it would help the GFA to recruit quality players at a young age for the future. �I believe that these players would be nurtured well by our youth coaches to bring out the huge potential in these players. The future of football in this country is very bright if we continue to invest in grassroot football and I especially want to thank Airtel Ghana for a partnering with GFA for this great tournament,� He added. The Airtel Rising Stars competition since its commencement has seen great talents produced to represent the nation at various age competitions. Sandra Owusu-Ansah, Kubrah Abubakari, Florence Fosuaa Annor and Belinda Anane all Airtel Rising Stars players represented Ghana at the FIFA U-17 Women�s World Cup tournament in Costa Rica not forgetting Priscilla Okyere, a participant of the maiden edition of Airtel Rising Stars who led the Black Maidens to win Africa�s first medal at a FIFA organized event for women, scoring the winning goal; against Germany in that competition. Airtel Rising Stars is a sports talent initiative introduced by Airtel that seeks to discover and nurture talented under 17 years male and female footballers who otherwise would have gone unnoticed. The initiative runs in all 17 Airtel operations across Africa and seeks to bring to light the skills of these young and talented individuals by giving them the platform to become world class football stars.