National Sports Festival returns in November

The National Sports Council (NSC) has tentatively scheduled the rebirth of the National Sports Festival for November in it�s quest to keep Ghana Sports on the ascendancy. Mr Worlanyo Agrah, Chief Executive Officer of NSC told GNA Sports that the Festival which was last held several years ago will take place in Accra. He said local championships for all disciplines are currently underway at the Districts level and will soon trickle down to the Regional ranks ahead of the Festival which he says will be an annual ritual. The CEO said the revival of the Festival �which is aimed at unearthing budding talents in all spheres of our national sporting life� is similarly aimed at polishing already discovered talents to gift the nation options at international events. Mr Agrah was buoyant that the Festival will also assist in the eventual selection into the national athletics teams that are capable of winning Ghana laurels at the international stage. He told GNA Sports that disciplines like Kick-boxing, Swimming, Chess, Scrabble, Basketball, Baseball, Softball and Karate have received the necessary recognition and have so far embarked on a two-year development plan to enhance their progress. Mr Agrah said the focus of the two-year plan is to identify talents at the formative stages that would take them through the right rudiments to turn them into winners in their fields. He added that table tennis (Ping Pong), Rugby, Baseball and Badminton have penetrated the schools as pilot projects in search of unearthing talents. The recent selected athletes at the Schools and Colleges Championship and the Kumasi Championship according to the CEO will continually be groomed especially during vacation until the requisite cream of the team is selected for international competitions.