Abedi commends Graphic

THE Chief Football Ambassador for the Africa Nations Cup trophy tour, maestro Abedi Ayew Pele, has commended the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) for its role in the promotion of sports in the country, particularly football over the years.
He specifically lauded the role played by newspapers of the graphic stable for his personal rise to international fame and urged the company to do same for the other up and coming sports men and women in the country.
Mr Abedi Ayew said this when he presented the CAF trophy to the Managing Director of GCGL, Mr Ibrahim Awal in his office in Accra.
Mr Abedi Ayew recounted his experience with GCGL some 30 years ago, when in 1978 the late S K Mainoo in deposited an educational sponsorship fee with the GCGL for his education up to the University level.
“This gave me the opportunity to be part of the Graphic family and to bring the trophy here today is not only an honour but a sweet homecoming,” he added.
Mr Abedi Ayew also used the occasion to commend the study growth in the organisation of football on the continent and urged the media to provide the needed support and motivation for the development and growth of sports on the continent.
Mr Abedi Ayew said he was honoured to be touring Africa with the trophy for the second time and commended Standard Bank’s (the parent company of Stanbic Bank) for giving him the opportunity and the support for the past two years.
The Managing Director of Stanbic Bank, Mr Alhassan Andani, assured of Standard Bank’s support for the development of football , which he indicated would run till 2016.
Mr Andani indicated that the purpose of organising the trophy tour for the second time was as a result of the success of the first tour and added that, “we also want to bring the trophy to the fans who are the true custodians to them have a feel of it.”
Mr Andani said the bank’s financial commitment to CAF was in line with the bank's effort at supporting sports development in Africa.
The Managing Director (MD) of Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Ibrahim Awal, who received the trophy, assured the trophy tour team of GCGL’s support during the tour and to bring Angola 2010 to Ghanaians.
He commended Stanbic Bank for supporting the development of sports in Ghana since it inception in the country and on the continent.
Mr Awal said since Ghana was the first stop of the trophy, it must motivate the Black Star to bring the trophy back to where it took off.