Philip Plange, coach of the Ghana National Wheelchair Tennis team has disclosed the jerseys they wore at the Wheelchair tournament they attended in Nigeria was an emblem of ridicule.
Borrowing a paltry $1,200 for the event in Nigeria as part of preparations for the Paralympics, Mr. Plange noted “we used some for our jersey and we just painted the names there.”
Due to that, he said the ‘G’ in Ghana was wiped out after washing the jerseys, “turning Ghana to Hana.”
Narrating the ordeal the players have been encountering, including their attack by armed robbers in Nigeria, the team coach told Captain Smart on Onua TV/FM’s Maakye on Thursday, February 16, 2023, that, many of the players are contemplating quitting the team.
He explained they had to survive on the benevolence of a Nigerian driver who was transporting them from Abuja to Lagos after the tournament.
“The driver who was carrying us along bought food for us. He is called Yakubu Hayah. And at a point I was shy to take it but I couldn’t reject because I couldn’t starve because of shyness,” he shared.
The team comprised of three men and three women and the coach making them 7 in all with two nursing mothers –a mother with ten months old twins and another with just a month old baby.
The bus transporting the team from Abuja to Lagos was stopped by armed robbers on their way, a town called Shagamu in Ogun State.
Explaining how they were attacked on their way, Mr. Plange disclosed Ghana’s number one seeded wheelchair tennis player, Bernard Wilson, was severely injured when the robbers emerged from the bush and crashed their glass with weapons after their counterparts on the road had fired some warning shots.
According to him, he was somehow safe because he was sandwiched by two ladies including the nursing mother who had abandoned her twins for the sake of Ghana.
“…They hit the driver with a stone. I was sandwiched by the ladies who were on my left and right. Tracy Konadu Mensah had two fresh twins and I called her to leave her babies to play for Ghana. She was sitting by my side and got hurt but her injury wasn’t as serious as that of Bernard,” he disclosed.
The team attended the tournament as part of preparations for the upcoming Paralympics Games.
Mr. Plange added they were only taken care of by the National Ambulance Service right after their arrival but has since not been taken to any medical facility for treatment.
Meanwhile, following the publication of the attack on the team Wednesday, February 15, 2023, on Onua Maakye, the Ministry of Youth and Sports issued a letter to wish them well.
By Felix Anim-Appau|Onuaonline.com
