Black Fingers depart Saturday for maiden IHF Zone III tourney in Burkina Faso

The senior national women’s handball team, the Black Fingers, will depart Accra this Saturday, August 29, for Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to compete in the maiden International Handball Federation (IHF) Africa Zone III Senior Tournament scheduled for September 2 to 9.

Ahead of the team’s departure, the Board Chairman of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Professor Fred Awaah, and the Director General of the NSA, Mr Yaw Ampofo Ankrah, visited the players at their training grounds at the Accra Sports Stadium yesterday to offer their encouragement and pledge government’s support.

Professor Awaah assured the team that government would ferry them to and from Burkina Faso and also support them with training kits and jerseys.

“It is said that the one who helps himself or herself is the one who gets more support. So, we have seen your efforts and hard work, and the government, through the National Sports Authority, will also take it up from there and back you,” Professor Awaah told the players during a brief meeting.

He charged them to bring gold home and make the nation proud in the maiden tournament, which will feature six other countries from Zone III, including Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Liberia.

Professor Awaah also underlined his outfit’s resolve to take care of all least-financed sporting disciplines and lauded the efforts of the heads of various sporting federations for their yeoman’s job.

For his part, Mr Yaw Ampofo Ankrah congratulated the team for taking their training seriously and pledged to always look out for them.

The President of the Ghana Handball Federation, Nii Lante Bannerman, said the team was fired up and well-prepared for the tournament.

“We are well prepared and ready, but we are appealing for more support to be able to bring the gold home,” he stated.

The Black Fingers’ coach, Mr Joseph Addokwei Quaye, and his assistant, Ms Gloria Nyinarku, told the gathering that everything was in order for Ghana to make its mark at the competition. They appealed for more support in terms of kits, stipends, and other items of international standard.

The one-week competition is aimed at serving as a preparatory and skills-honing platform for senior national teams after the under-17 and under-19 age levels, providing a crucial transition pathway to the senior level.