Team Esbecan triumph over Team Cuba in friendly baseball match
Team Esbecan, a Cuba trained Ghanaian professionals, beats Team Cuba made up of medical staff, embassy staff and others working in Ghana by 24 runs to 22 after 7 innings in a second-round friendly baseball game on played on Sunday at the Elwak Sports Stadium in Accra.
The first encounter played at the same venue three weeks ago ended in favour of Team Cuba as they trashed the Ghanaian side by 24 runs to 8 after 7 innings.
The Cuba trained Ghanaian professionals (Team Esbecan) in various fields and their Cuban side, despite their ages displayed their pitching, batting and skillful fielding techniques to the admiration of the spectators.
The games, according to the Coordinator and Sports Development Agent, Mr Hugo Banzini, a Cuba trained Sports and Physical Therapist, was part of activities to mark the 56th anniversary celebrations of the Cuba Revolution in 1959.
MrBanzini, a passionate baseball promoter and coach,said the two events were in preparation for the main anniversary competition to be played between the two teams on May 11.
The Coordinator,who doubles as the Chairman of the Greater Accra Baseball and Softball Association (GRABSA), saystheir involvement in the activities was a way to support the celebrations to appreciate the Cuba support for Ghana.
The Cuba Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs Annette Chao Garcia, said sport was the way to unite people with religious and cultural backgrounds.
Mrs Garcia said Ghana on December 23, 1959 through the efforts of Dr Kwame Nkrumah became the first South Saharan African country to establish relations with the revolutionary Cuba.
She hinted that there are more than 2,000 Cuba trained Ghanaian professionals in Ghana and the game forms part of efforts to strengthen bonds and promote intercultural exchanges between the two countries.
Mr Bagnaba Van-Gogh, a Cuba trained professional and a General Manger (GM), at Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST), commended organizers for such a laudable event that seek to promote and strengthen the relations between Cuban missions in Ghana and the Cuba trained Ghanaians.
Mr Van-Gogh said the two parties could work together in sectors such as sports, health, education and other fields to execute several developmental projects through such collaborations.
About baseball, he hinted that with the right infrastructure especially fields, equipment and funds, the game would be rated among one of the top sports in the country.
‘Given the right supports in infrastructure, equipment and money and the introduction in the schools and the communities, Ghana in the next 10 years would rock shoulder with the most strangest playing countries in the world’ he said.
BY VICTOR A. BUXTON
