Sunyani whitewash Tamale in tennis
Accra (Greater Accra) 22 August 2000
Ghana's league champions, Accra Hearts of Oak, added Lobi Stars of Nigeria to their "victims" when they beat them 2-0 in their third match of this year's CAF Champions league played at Markudi.
Hearts maintain their lead in the four-team group with nine points from three matches with El Ahly of Egypt and Lobi follow with three points apiece while Jean d'Arc of Senegal is stuck at the bottom with no point.
After a goalless first half, Hearts opened the scores in the early parts of the second from Emmanuel Osei Kuffour's clinical finish from a beautiful pull-out by Charles Taylor.
According to a GTV live telecast monitored in Accra, Ishmael Addo rounded up the Lobi defence men including the goalkeeper after beating an off side trap to slot in the ball into an empty net.
After those two shocking goals, the Nigerians stepped up their game and came close to pulling at least a goal back but erratic shooting coupled with good defensive work by Hearts rear guards denied them. Hearts play host Lobi Stars in their next match at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday, October 15.
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Cape Coast (Central Region) 22 August 2000
Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs are out of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Competition when Ismailia Club of Egypt thrashed them two goals to nothing in their second leg match played at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium on Sunday.
Dwarfs lost by four goals to nothing in the first leg match played in Egypt two weeks ago.
The visiting team which has about seven international players played with determination and scored the opener in the 31st minute when Reda Abduel Naby playing in mid-field headed home a beautiful pass from Haman Ibrahim.
Ismailia which dominated the game made dangerous incursions and put pressure on dwarfs but failed to utilize the many chances that came their way until the end of the first half. Both teams resumed the second half with greater determination, but it was Ismailia who had the upper hand, when they increased the tally to two in the 57th minute as keeper Sulemana Issaka could not hold a powerful shot from Haman Ibrahim.
Dwarfs, with about seven corner kicks and a number of scoring chances, were unable to break the formidable defensive wall of Ismaelia, pivoted around mid-field player, Eslam Elshety. In the 65th minute Dwarfs scored a goal but it was disallowed by referee Godgia Coffi from Benin. In the dying minutes of the match Patrick Villar of Dwarfs was shown a red card.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 22 August 2000
Sunyani Lawn Tennis Club on Saturday whitewashed visiting Northern Electricity Department (NED) Tennis Club of Tamale by six games to two in the men's division in their special friendly tournament played at the Liberation Barracks Tennis Court, Sunyani. In the women's division Sunyani won the only two matches played.
Sunyani won the two single matches in the men's division and four in the doubles, while in the women's division they won a match each in the singles and doubles. Their coach-player, Peter Alabi, masterminded the victory by the Sunyani team, especially in the men’s division.
His well-polished ball chopping and attendant spinning coupled with powerful services brought pressure to bear on his opponents in the two separate matches he featured in.
Another player whose tactical skills endeared the hearts of the spectators was James Kwashie Williams of Tamale. But in the end Williams could not stand the "flatting" skills of Alabi when the two met in the men's opening single encounter.
Again in the doubles, Alabi partnered with Joseph Yeboah to prove his class over Williams and Daniel Dadzie in a match, which proved to be the hottest in the competition. Sunyani won 9 games to 7.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 22 August 2000
Results of the week 24 of the ABC Premier league matches played over the weekend are:
Accra: Olympics 0 Kotoko 0 Nkawkaw: Okwawu 1 Bofoakwa 0
Sunyani: B. A United 2 Hasaacas 1 Kumasi: K. Faisal 2 GHAPOHA 0
Accra: Liberty 6 K’bibirem 1
(Note: The Goldfields-Hearts and Dwarfs-Power have been declared outstanding because Hearts and Dwarfs are participating in the CAF Champions League and the CAF Cup respectively).
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Standings of the teams at the end of the 24th
week – 024: 21st August 2000
Team Local/Region P W D L F A Pts GD
Hearts Accra, Gt. Accra 22 17 4 1 48 14 55 +34
King Faisal Kumasi, Ashanti 24 11 7 7 30 21 38 +9
Goldfields Obuasi, Ashanti 23 11 5 7 22 14 38 +8
Liberty Accra, Gt. Accra 24 11 3 9 36 26 36 +10
Ghapoha Tema, Gt. Accra 24 10 6 9 28 29 36 -1
Kotoko Kumasi, Ashanti 24 9
7 8 26 26 34 0
Okwawu Nkawkaw, Eastern 23 8 8 7 25 23 32 +2
RTU Tamale, Northern
24 9 4 11 20 26 31 -6
Olympics Accra, Gt. Accra 24 8 8 8 23 26 29 -6
Bofoakwa Sunyani, Brong Ahafo 24 8 5 13 21 29 29 -8
Dawu Dawu, Eastern 24 5 11 8 26 30 26 -4
Hasaacas Sekondi, Western 23 7 5 11 26 30 26 -4
Dwarfs Cape Coast, Central 22 6 7 9 21 27 26 -6
Kwaebibirim Asuom, Eastern 23
7 4 12 21 38 25 -17
Power F/C Koforidua, Eastern 23 5 9 9 17 21 24 -4
B.A. United Sunyani, Brong Ahafo 24 5 8 11 16 28 23 -12
(NB: Accra Great
Olympics, with four wins and five draws suffered a deduction of three points
from their build up for failing to honour an outstanding match against King
Faisal who were credited with the points. A number of outstanding matches have
been declared outstanding due to Hearts and Dwarfs Africa cup Campaigns. The
GFA is yet to schedule the matches.)
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 22 August 2000
Bottom-of-the-league B.A. United beat visiting Sekondi Hasaacas 2-1 in their ABC Premier League match played at the Sunyani Coronation Park on Sunday.
Half time score was 2-0 for United whose goals were scored by right-winger Frank Adjei in the 27th minute through a penalty and inside-left Ntow Gyan in the 37th minute.
All efforts made by Hasaacas, led by good old Kofi Abbrey at least to redeem the tally proved fiasco till the end of the first half.
On resumption the visitors played with all their might pushing the homesters to play in their own half. The strategy proved good for them as in the 68th minute centre-forward Mohammed Issah beautifully beat goalkeeper Ransford Kudjo of United for the consolidation goal for his side.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 22 August 2000
Two goals, one in each half by Frank Osei powered King Faisal to victory over Ghapoha in their ABC/premier league match played in Kumasi. The woes of Ghapoha deepened when substitute Samuel Ocran was sent off in the 77th minute for rough play and decent. Osei shot Faisal into the lead in the 27th minute when he exploited a defensive lapse by Ghapoha to head the ball into the net. However, there was a little bit of doubt about the goal as Ghapoha's goalkeeper Joe Mensah appeared to have been fouled, but the referee allowed it.
Ghapoha who at certain stages played it hard, had a good chance to level up in the 40th minute but John Ainoo who was in a good position to score failed to connect.
Then again in the 56th minute, Kwabena Boateng headed out Don Bortey's cross from the right to let Faisal off the hook.
Ghapoha pulled out John Ainoo for Samuel Ocran in the 62nd minute and earned a free kick a few metres outside Faisal's penalty box but wasted the chance. Then Faisal initiated a move from midfield and a long toss found Frank Osei who slotted home the second goal in the 67th minute.
Ghapoha immediately replaced Sam Arthur with Kamil Yunus but paid for Ocran's recklessness when he was sent off for intentional rough play and misconduct in the 77th minute.
They did not give up the fight and nearly pulled a goal back in the 81st minute but Don Bortey headed feebly into the hands of goalkeeper Opoku Ware.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 22 August 2000
Accra Great Olympics and Kumasi Asante Kotoko played a goalless drawn game in their ABC league match at the Accra Sports Stadium.
As early as the first minute of the game, Kotoko had a good chance to score but, outside left Michael Osei fluffed the chance to open a catalogue of misses which characterised the entire encounter.
In the 22nd minute, Michael Osei slipped through the Olympics defence but shot straight into the hands of David Sharpe in goal for Oly. Kotoko kept up the pressure, forcing Olympics to substitute Aziz Ansah with Abeiku Jonathan in a bid to strengthen the midfield. This paid off as the battle in the centre became balanced with both sides contesting fiercely for the ball.
Goalkeeper David Sharpe drew applause from the crowd in the 32nd minute, when he pulled off a fantastic save from Isaac Owusu who, had overlapped deep to fire a fierce volley at goal.
In the 40th minute Skipper Godwin Ablordey joined Felix Yeboah on the Kotoko yellow card list of jittery Cape Coast based referee Joe Macarthy.
During the second half, Kotoko increased the tempo of their game and subjected Oly to persistent pressure, but goalkeeper David Sharpe was excellent as he dived, blocked, parried and saved all goal bound shots to keep a clean sheet.
Oly's midfielder, Braimah Tahiru was red carded in the 61st minute and this compounded the problems of his side but once again, good defensive formation and the agility, bravery and composure of Sharpe was a real match for the Kotoko attackers.
There was a mild drama in the 71st minute when referee Macarthy begged coach Enrst Menderndorf to leave the line after the coach had moved there for the umpteenth time to challenge his decision. Kotoko kept up the pressure till the referee ended the match without allowing any injury time, despite many stoppages during the game.
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