By Rihana Adam
Accra, Sept. 4, GNA-Mr. Christopher Ekpo, the President of the Ghana Deaf Football Association (GDFA) has expressed his gratitude to all stakeholders for their support during their two- day, 3rd National Deaf Gala tournament held at the Accra Stadium.
The deaf football gala tournament which was launched in 2015 served as a platform to select players into the national team, Black Wonders.
In an interview with the GNA Sports, the President said, “On behalf of the association, I would like to use this opportunity to thank my executive members, the coaches, referees, club owners, players, the media and all the supporters who have spent their time, energy and come to the stadium to support this our two-day tournament”.
He said this year’s tournament had been a competitive one and the number of the participating teams had also increased as compared to previous years.
“It has been very competitive tournament this year and you could see it for yourself we have to go into penalties shoot out before we could get winners for the next matches, this shows that the boys are ready to die for Mother Ghana, but what we are lacking now is the support from sponsors to make deaf football one of the best football associations in the country.”
He added that the players showed their professionalism on the field of play just like the hearing ones.
“The players also show to the world just like the hearing professional footballers on the field of play since yesterday, they were committed to the rules of the game, and I think what the players need now is more training in other to improve on their skills and talents.”
Commenting on the future of the deaf Women’s Football, he said, women’s football was in the right direction, but the association was doing underground work in order to bring them out to also play gala tournaments.
“We want to organise a women’s gala as well, but our support is very low. We are doing underground work so you would see them also part-taking the gala tournament in the near future.”
He therefore appealed to the corporate entities, individuals, non-governmental organisations, and the government to come to their aid and support deaf football.
He added that when the deaf team travelled for an international tournament, they came back with medals even performing better than the hearing ones.
GNA