ECOWAS volleyball championship...GHANA SET TO WIN (GRAPHIC SPORTS, PAGE 11, MAY 28, 2010)

The national youth male volleyball team is confident of emerging champions in the four-nation ECOWAS Youth Championship slated for Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The Chairman of the Greater Accra Volleyball Association and leader of the Ghanaian contingent, Mr. Paul Atchoe, attributed the confidence to the experience of the team, the bulk of the players who come from the Ghana Immigration Service which placed second in the recent Zone 3 club championship in Benin, and the level of training it has had undertaken.
He told the Graphic Sports at Bolgatanga, where the team made a stopover for a warm-up game with a select side from the Upper East Region en route to Burkina Faso, that the team was self motivated and had the capability of lifting high the flag of Ghana at the championship.
Last Wednesday, the team beat a select side from Bolgatanga in a warm-up game ahead of the championship in neighboring Burkina Faso by three straight sets. Two other exhibition games ended one game apiece.
The Ghanaian volleyball team is travelling will road to Burkina Faso from Accra to participate in the annual ECOWAS Youth Championship.
The three-day competition which begins today, ends on Sunday, May 30, 2010. It will feature countries like Ghana, Togo, Mali and the host nation, Burkina Faso. The Ghanaian team is made up of 15 players and seven officials.
According Mr. Atchoe, the championship has been in existence since ECOWAS was introduced 35 years ago, adding that this is the first time Ghana has been invited based on its performance in the recent Zone 3 club championship held in Benin where the Police team placed first and the Immigration Team placed second in the women and men division respectively.
He told the Graphic Sports that the five straight games against the Bolgatanga select side has revealed some lapses within the team and said the handlesrs will go back to the drawing board to correct those lapses ahead of the championship in Burkina Faso.
“We know it’s not going to be easy because as the only Anglophone country amongst the Francophone nations, the challenges will be tough. But with our youthful experience, we hope to come back with the winner’s trophy”
“The morale of the players is high. They’ve got the stamina, the strength and the desire to go for the ultimate and they are going to do just that”, Mr. Atchoe said.
Mr. Atchoe expressed the team’s appreciation to the Mr. Worlanyo K. Agrah, Chief Executive Officer of National Sports Council (NSC), for the support.
The Upper East Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bright Oduro, who is also a veteran volleyball player, encouraged the players to go all out to lift high the flag of Ghana in the championship.