Does A National Basketball Team Exist In Ghana?

Yes.

Kind of.

Frankly, I’m not certain.

The Olympics in Rio have been on and I’ve been following as many sports as I can. Watching a little of Tennis, badminton, gymnastics, and diving. Just trying to watch as much as I can.

Recently, I watched a men’s basketball game which involved Nigeria and Brazil. Unfortunately Nigeria lost and didn’t qualify for the next round.

As I was watching the game, I couldn’t help but think: Where’s Ghana national basketball team? Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I saw the Ghanaian national basketball team play on my television.

This isn’t the first time I’ve asked that question. I was wondering the same thing when I was the watching the last International Basketball Federation (FIBA) basketball tournament. I saw the likes of Angola and Nigeria in the tournament. But once again, Ghana was noticeably absent.

So what’s going on??! How does Ghana not represent in basketball??!

By doing a little research (A lot of Googling), I found out Ghana is a member of FIBA. Sadly, we are ranked 111 on the World FIBA Rankings.

Even more depressing, the Ghana National Basketball team has never qualified for ANY international tournaments. (Note: Ghana has been a member of FIBA since 1962!)

That is really awful.

There are so many Ghanaian basketball news outlets and blogs. I keep reading about a lot of competitions and leagues around the country but the national basketball team seems defunct.

Heck, even Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat came to Ghana that one time!

How does a good basketball player who may have the skills and potential to be really good survive in Ghana? The ceiling for that person must be awfully high.

So, what’s the Ghana Sports Ministry doing about it? Heck if I know. Everyone seems content that Ghana is basically a football country. But if we don’t diversify our sports, we will never exploit the potential of some upcoming athletes who want to compete in a sport other than football.

At least, we have athletes like Kaya Forson competing in sports like swimming and broadening Ghana’s sports scope.

But no love for basketball? After all these years? That should be a slam dunk.