Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah, President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) On Wednesday urged the Black Queens to play their hearts out to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The GOC President led a delegation from the GOC to visit the team at the Accra Sports Stadium and admonished them to make sure Ghana was represented in football at the global sports festival.
He said the GOC was firmly behind them and would follow them closely as they chase the Olympic ticket for the first time.
“We want to see you make it to the Paris Games this year so we allocated $45,000 to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) at the start of the qualifiers as our support to facilitate the teams’ journey to the Olympic Games.”
According to him, an amount of $9,000 was first advanced to the GFA for the team at the start of the qualifiers followed by the release of a further $22, 900.
“There is an additional $13,200 waiting to be given out for the team for further preparations.
He expressed that the GOC has faith in the Black Queens to sail through.
“Treat the Zambia game as a do-or-die affair because when you advance to the final stage, the rest of the monies would come to you; there is no way Black Queens must miss out on the Paris Olympics Games, ” he advised the players.
Mr Mensah emphasized that all eyes are now on them to save Ghana football, adding that Ghanaians were looking up to them to bring back the love to football fans.
He revealed that the GOC has already prepared the team’s camping base in France, knowing that they will qualify, hence the need to beat Zambia and go past Tunisia or Morocco.
He praised the winsome spirit and effort Coach Nora Huptle has imbibed in the side, which has endeared the team to Ghanaians. He later presented assorted bottled water from Twelluim Industrial to the team after the encouraging words.
Coach Nora Hauptle thanked the GOC President for his very timely visit and assured him that they would do their best to make Ghana proud by picking the Olympic ticket.
The Black Queens are two qualifiers away from landing their first-ever Olympic Games appearance.
Ghana will host the Copper Queens of Zambia tomorrow at the Accra Sports Stadium in the first leg of the third-round qualifier.
In a friendly warm up game against local club side, Berry Ladies, the Queens won 2-1.