The coach of the National U-21 female Hockey team Ben Odametey says the performance of the both the male and female national teams in the just ended hockey tourney in South Africa should spur government on to provide the necessary infrastructure to propel the sports forward. According to him, the performance of the female side who are now ranked 2nd on the continent is ample evidence that given the right support and infrastructure, the team could compete with the very best on the continent. He expressed his misgivings at the lack of quality astro turfs to nurse the next generation of hockey stars. Coach Odamtten was speaking to Joy Sports on the prospects of team Ghana and the need for governmental support. “As you know, the female team is currently ranked second on the continent even with the meager resources available to us. We have strived to get to the very top through hard work but that alone is not enough. A certain level of governmental support will do us a world of good. As a nation, we have only one astro turf which is not good enough. The sad thing is it is located in the southern sector thus people who are interested in the sport in other regions rarely get to benefit in anyway. We pray the government comes to our aid in this regard so that we can also compete with the South Africans and beyond.” The female hockey team came out tops in the just ended hockey U-21 Championship which ended in South Africa a couple of days ago.