Ghana is playing host to a four-nation goalball international tournament as well as a seminar for the sport’s referees and coaches, from December 12 to 16, the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball said in a release on Thursday.
Around 50 participants are expected to attend the event featuring teams from Ghana, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria at the Sports Hall of the University of Cape Coast.
The event is being organized by the Ghana Blind Sports Association in partnership with the IBSA Goalball and follows on from previous workshops held in other African countries since 2016.
IBSA Goalball’s Sports Director, Alexey Baryaev and Secretary, John Potts will help carry out training for referees and coaches.
The training, which will precede the competition, will cover the theory and practice of goalball, focusing on the rules, team preparation, coaching, officiating techniques, and procedures.
IBSA Goalball will also hand out balls, eyeshades and educational materials for teams to take away, helping them to build their programs when they return home.
Goalball is a sport exclusively for athletes who have a visual impairment. It was devised in 1946 in an effort to rehabilitate visually impaired veterans who returned from World War II.
The game was introduced to the world in 1976 at the Paralympics in Canada and has been played at every Paralympics since.
Source:China.org.cn
