Over 300 para-athletes, drawn from the ten regions of Ghana, have gathered at the Accra Sports Stadium for the first ever National Paralympic Sports Festival, in Accra.

The two-day event will see athletes engaging in volleyball, basketball, table tennis, tennis, taekwondo, wheelchair athletics and goalball.

Opening the festival, Mahama Ayariga, Minister of Youth and Sports, said his outfit in collaboration with the National Sports Authority (NSA) will put in measures to make sporting facilities disability friendly.

He said this will increase the number of persons with disability in sports and enhance the chances of Ghana winning more medals at international competitions.

The minister said, the involvement of persons with disability in sports and their great feats in recent times, has contributed to the gradual erosion of negative perception by people against them.

“Persons with disabilities are no longer seen as cursed people from cursed families, but rather people with equal qualities, who when given opportunity will contribute to the society, like anyone else.” Mr. Ayarigah stated.