20 Dec 2019 at 14:40 | Published by: PatPenguin | Views: 10722 | News search

League Winners  (Photo by Wilson Agbesi)

Accra, Ghana - Over the past month, the Ghana Wheelchair Minigolf Association held what is believed to be the first ever league specifically designed for disabled individuals in wheelchairs. After the formation of the Association in September 2019 during the Africa Minigolf Cup of Nations, the Ghana National Wheelchair Minigolf Club League (GNWMC League) began on November 27th and had four weeks of competition, ending on December 14th with the awards on December 15th. The league was sponsored this year by Caesars Court and had the support of the Ghana Minigolf Association. Ghana has become a hub of minigolf in Africa over the past few years, including sending players to the World Championships and World Adventure Golf Masters and this marks another exciting expansion of the sport in that country.

There were five teams of five players each (two pairs and a reserve) who played in the first year of the GNWMC League. Amazing Putters, Elwils Putters, Hope Putters, Raiders Putters, Victory Putters all began practice up to six weeks prior to the event starting and battled throughout the season for the top spot. Lion Wilson Agbesi, the President of the Ghana Wheelchair Minigolf Association, said it was easy to recruit wheelchair players to the league as he was able to pull primarily from the Ghana Wheelchair Basketball Federation, of which he is the Secretary General. He also noted that after the conclusion of the league two more teams expressed interest in joining, showing the positive response of the league.



After taking a strong lead during the first few weeks, the Elwils Putters finished up the season on top of the leaderboard with the Victor Putters as the runners up. Philip Borkety was the lowest single player score whilst Faisal Say won the hole in one in the championship.



Looking forward, Agbesi said: “It is our target to expand to five other regions in the country. In forming five clubs in each of the regions, we will cover six of the sixteen administrative regions we have as a country before 2020 ends. As we have brought this new game we really want the whole world to start it as well and we are more than ready in helping any country in any part of the world interested in starting the game so we are calling on all countries for collaboration in introducing this game in the various countries.”

To expand on this vision, Agbesi mentioned that the league was in the need of funding and some items to properly grow. “[Sports] Chairs are one major problem we have now, even during the league we have only 10 sports wheel chairs so players have to be changing the chairs which causes delays during match days. The chairs are expensive and we will be glad if we can get organization to support us with either new ones or slightly used ones. We will also be glad to have any development partners or donors agencies to come on board to support us with funding in moving this new format of minigolf.”

Agbesi also mentioned that the league was in need of items such as kits, hats, putters and balls to be successful and grow. To connect with Agbesi on support advice on forming leagues for individuals with disabilities, he can be reached at wilsonagbesi@gmail.com or +233-243452599.

Thank you to Mr. Agbesi for the information and photos for this article

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