00:00 Good morning, Lesley Sports now on the AM show with me Muftahu Nabila Abdoulaye
00:05 and on Saturday Chris Hilton unveiled the Black Stars squad for the last African Cup of Nations qualifier
00:11 against Central Africa Republic. Andrea Yousekeeper of the senior national team has been called up
00:17 despite not playing a single minute of football since March early this year. So the goalkeepers are Lawrence
00:25 Atizegui, Abdelmanaf Nourudin and Richard Ofori who's also been out since November 2022.
00:31 Defenders are Ali Doucedou, Kingsley Schindler, Stefano Ambrosio, Joseph Edu, Alexander Djukou, Nicolas Opoku,
00:40 Bahra Rahman and Gideon Mesa. Bahra Rahman is also making a return to the team after about four months absence.
00:47 Midfielders are Abdel Salih Samed, Baba Idrisou, Edmond Ardo, Andrea Yousekeeper of the senior national team,
00:53 Ilasha Owusu, Mohamed Kudus and Ransford Yebua. Baba Idrisou is making a return to the senior national team as well.
01:02 Thomas Parth is absent because he's injured. For the force we have Inaki Williams, Antoine Semenya, Jordan Ayew,
01:10 Enes Niyama, Osman Bukhari, Joseph Pincel and Jonathan Sowah of Midyama Ese. These are the players Chris Hilton has called up.
01:19 And vice president of the Ghana Football Association, Mark Addo, who doubles as the Manningham committee chairman of the senior national team,
01:27 has justified the inclusion of Andrea You into the 25 man squad.
01:34 He's a phenomenal leader. I mean, he has everybody that knows him that, you know, he fights, he leaves everything on the pitch, you know,
01:42 you know, he doesn't go home with an empty gun. He fires every bullet on the pitch.
01:46 So we all know that. So from that standpoint, you know that he's going to come in and give you 110 percent every day, every night.
01:54 And it's been around for a long time. He's seen a lot. So I think he said he's a key part of, you know, the key to the card.
02:05 So we know the team already around him and he's the captain.
02:09 So obviously it's important that we all support him, you know, and then, you know, I'm not the coach, but I can say that there have been situations in the past where players were not even at some point not affiliated with the club for some reason or another.
02:33 They have been invited to a national team, there have been instances and you probably can attest to it. So if he does get the invitation, you know, to me, it's not a big deal.
02:43 So then that brings me to the next question. What is the selection criteria?
02:47 Perhaps because the day I used the captain, the criteria for his selection may be different because as you speak, he's clubless and he's not attached to the club.
02:55 Actually with the technical team.
02:56 But the technical team will run by the squad which he has been involved with before?
02:59 Of course. But even that, even that, if they have a strong justification, like I said, and I made the point earlier, there have been situations where players have been invited to a national team for one reason or another.
03:11 The Black Stars under Chris Hilton has won one game and drawn two of their games and the vice president,
03:20 Macado, says that no one is happy with the performance of the senior national team under the tutelage of the former Tottenham, Norwich City and Newcastle United boss.
03:29 Nobody is happy with the performance.
03:33 I think Chris would be the first person to tell you he himself is not happy with the performance either.
03:39 We expect more in the Agana.
03:41 So, like I said, I think it's what we've seen or what we saw in Qatar.
03:50 We saw that this team can be quite dynamic.
03:52 So it's a question of making sure that we are picking all the right players and also ensuring that the system that he's deploying is quite dynamic enough to be able to break teams down and so that we can get results.
04:07 So that's the, that is the, Chris, that is the challenge that he and his technical team have, you know, have now.
04:17 We will support them 100 percent to make sure that, but it's something that they, they are working on day and night to make sure that they pick the right team to be able to provide that dynamic results that we are looking for and the dynamic play that we know the Black Stars were playing.
04:33 So it's, it's something that he's working on and he knows it.
04:37 He knows the whole country is expecting that and we are expecting that.
04:41 And you're expecting that improvement next week, Thursday against Central Africa Republic?
04:44 We, hey, the process has started.
04:46 We expect to see a marked improvement in the performance.
04:51 And we want that.
04:52 We are Ghana.
04:53 We don't, you know, people don't just say, "Oh, Central Africa, what's your bank?"
04:56 We said three, four, maybe five billion.
04:59 But that's how it, but football has changed.
05:02 Vice President Mark Hardaw speaking there on Love FM, our sister station in Kumasi.
05:07 And also the Black Stars will come up against Liberia in an international friendly at the Accra Sports Stadium on September 12th.
05:15 Let's move on and talk about other stories.
05:17 And for the first time in the history of the continent, there is the Paralympic African Games, which is currently happening in Ghana.
05:25 The opening ceremony took place at the Bukom Boxing Arena on Sunday.
05:30 And my colleague, Benaya Elum, the FMR co-host was there and comes through with this report.
05:36 Hundreds of athletes from over 10 countries gathered at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra for the opening ceremony of the first ever African Power Games.
05:46 The Ghana supporters union did not disappoint as they dazzled the audience with an electrifying performance to set the tone for the ceremony.
05:53 In attendance were the president of the African Paralympic Committee, Samson Dean, Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustafa Yousif and other dignitaries.
06:20 Ghana, hosting the maiden edition of the continental event, President Samson Dean made this assurance.
06:27 We should be proud. Ghana, Ghana, Ghana, we made it. We made it. We made it.
06:40 I am happy to represent your interest. I am happy to make the day happy.
06:49 September 3, 2023 will be the day that we will forever remember in the history of the sport.
06:59 This is what we have fought, we have fought, we have engaged, we have made sure that today happens.
07:07 36 years of our sport, we have it today.
07:11 And I hope, I hope that we get the qualification to the Paralympic Games in Paris 2024.
07:18 Sport Minister Mustafa Yousif said Para Sports will help people with disability to feel more included in society.
07:27 Today, as we open a new way in our existence, let us use this day as a promotional vehicle for highly engaged to promote social inclusion and help eliminate stigma against persons with disability.
07:43 And provide them with the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities and achieve excellence in that best facets of life.
07:50 As we witness this event today, let us be reminded of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability,
08:01 which enjoins us to promote, protect and ensure full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by persons with disability,
08:13 and to promote and respect for their inherent dignity.
08:20 The tournament was later officially launched with performances that represented various African countries partaking in the tournament.
08:28 With your indulgence and on behalf of His Excellency the President of the Republic,
08:34 I wish to declare the first African Para Games Accra 2023 duly open.
08:45 All up, let's put our hands together and smile for the opening ceremony.
08:56 We have India, Liberia, Spain, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Lebanon, West Africa, all of Africa.
09:24 Now let's talk about the Millennium Marathon for 2023.
09:28 That one also happened over the weekend and my colleague, Elom again, was there and comes to you with this report.
09:34 About 6,000 athletes from over 34 countries had their eyes on the ultimate prize as they ran through the streets of Accra in the 2021 Kilometre Marathon.
09:46 But in the end, it was Kenya that stole the show, taking the first and second positions in the men's category and the top three positions in the women's category also.
10:06 Peter Mwaniki, who emerged top in the men's category with a time of 1 hour 2 minutes 57 seconds, took home 75,000 Ghana CDs.
10:16 Let me say I'm happy and I feel good. It's not easy to win just a race like this.
10:23 So the first thing I just thank God for next year. Maybe I will be back again.
10:33 In the women's marathon, Kenya's Liliane Lele also took home 75,000 Ghana CDs after finishing first with a time of 1 hour 11 minutes.
10:44 I was not sure because we come with a lot of colleagues from Kenya.
10:49 I've been in Europe, Italy, many countries in Europe, Switzerland, Strathegana Marathon, Ferona Marathon.
11:00 Tanzania, I was last in month.
11:03 Have you ever won any of those countries?
11:07 Most of the time I was positioned too, but now I win the race.
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