GRi Sports Ghana 12 - 02 - 2001

 

Soccer-Hearts lift African Super Cup

 

Soccer - Four clubs to compete for AHAA Golden cup

 

Boxing-Narh wins pro debut

 

Exchequers win Mobitel Hockey Knockout

 

 

Soccer-Hearts lift African Super Cup

Accra (Greater Accra) 12 February 2001

 

Ghana's champion club, Accra Hearts of Oak, beat Zamalek club of Egypt by two goals to nil at the Kumasi sports stadium on Sunday to win the African Super Cup.

The Ghanaian side, by this victory, side has won four trophies in a single season, after it snatched a domestic double plus the African Champions League Cup earlier.

Hearts who appeared nervous from the start conceded the offensive to the Egyptians in the first ten minutes but a moment of sparkle gave them the leader in the 11th minute, against the run of play, when Charles Taylor capitalised on an error by the Zamalek goalkeeper Abdul Wahid El-Sayed to score. 

Osei Kuffuor had broken loose on the right flank and his incisive pull out was fumbled with by El Sayed and Taylor who was lurking around chested the ball and volleyed it into the roof of the net for the leader.

The Egyptians pressed hard for the leveller but excellent defensive work by Dan Quaye, Stephen Tetteh, skipper Jacob Nettey and goalkeeper Sammy Adjei in post, put the brakes on the deadly Hossam Hassan and his attacking partners to end the half with a slim Hearts' slim advantage.

Playmaker, Emmanuel Osei Kuffuor sealed victory for Hearts 10 seconds into the second half when he scrambled in a pass from Taylor who had sprinted on the left flank and centred into the box.

The goal was a master piece as the Zamalek defenders and the goalkeeper were confused by the swift footwork and body swerves of Taylor and Kuffuor and could not react adequately as they were caught ball watching.

Zamalek then dominated for a brief spell but hearts came in stronger from the 75 minute and could have increased the tally but for over elaboration and complacency. They threw away several good opportunities to increase the tally.

The closest the Egyptians came to scoring were in the 58th minute when Dan Quaye scooped the ball from the goal line, in the 89th minute when keeper Adjei saved off from the head of an attacker and on the stroke of full time when an Egyptian header grazed the woodwork.

And at the end of it all, Ghana's sports minister designate Mallam Ali Yussif assisted CAF boss Issa Hayatou to present the Super Cup to skipper Jacob Nettey. 

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Soccer - Four clubs to compete for AHAA Golden cup

Accra (Greater Accra) 12 February 2001

 

Four premier league clubs will compete for the maiden Akuafo Hall Alumni Association (AHAA) Golden cup in Accra and Kumasi on February 18 and February 25 respectively.

The clubs are Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Accra Hearts of Oak, Okwawu United and Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs.

Mr Paul Mark Owooh, General Secretary of the Akuafo Hall Alumni Association who announced this in Accra on Sunday, said the competition is being organised to raise funds to refurbish the Akuafo Hall of the University of Ghana.

He said the trophy which was donated by Accra Brewery Limited, will see Kotoko playing Dwarfs at the Kumasi Sports Stadium and Hearts hosting Okwawu in Accra on February 18.

The winner of the two matches, meet in Accra on Sunday, February 25 in the finals.

Mr Owooh announced that the match in Accra would attract a gate fee of 5,000 cedis for the popular stand, 10,000 cedis for the Upper Terrace, 15,000 cedis for the wings while the VIP annex is 20,000 cedis.

For the Kumasi match, he said Popular Stand 5,000 cedis, Centre Line 10,000 cedis, Extreme Wing, 15,000 cedis and Immediate Annex 20,000 cedis will be charged.

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Boxing-Narh wins pro debut

Accra (Greater Accra) 12 February 2001

 

Raymond Narh, former amateur boxing icon won his maiden professional fight in a dramatic fashion when he stopped Dan Fynn via a second round technical knock out at the Kaneshie Sportas Complex on Saturday.

Fighting on the bill of Ambition and Nii Armah Promotions at the "Chukuchaka Night" Raymond opened a deep cut on the right eyelid of Fynn in the second round and the ring doctor ruled that Fynn could not continue the fight.

The first round was fiercely contested, with the two boxers trading bombs, thereby giving fans the expectation of a great fight but their appetite was soon quenched as a powerful right hook punctured Fynn's face and allowed blood to ooze profusely and referee Godfred Cobblah was compelled to end proceedings.

The thriller of the six-bout package was an eight round featherweight contest between Alfred Tetteh and Samuel Danso.

This bout recorded four knockdowns, two on each side, to tell the story of a real classic which will remain in the minds of fight fans for a very long time.

Alfred, however, won a unanimous decision to dent the unbeaten record of Danso, while he stretched his own fight tally to four wins in the same number of fights.

Danso bombed Alfred to the canvas in the first round with a shot right and when everybody thought the end was near, Alfred staged a superb comeback to stun his opponent with left, right combinations.

From that moment Alfred improved in confidence and style as he exhibited excellent footwork, which he spiced with perfect ducking and precision jabbing to carry the fight to his opponent.

In the fourth round, as the dominance of Alfred became evident, he became complacent and dropped his guard while trying to taunt Danso. It was a near disaster for Alfred as a stinging right hook from his adversary caught him flat on the chin, sending him to the canvas for the second time.

Once again he got up and fought back gamely to the admiration of the spectators.

The trend of the fight took a different dimension in the fifth round when Danso was hammered to the floor with an overhead right cross. He received the mandatory eight count from referee Cobblah.

Danso became infuriated and delved into his armoury, looking for a killer punch, but superb ring craft and fast mobility by Alfred made him miss wildly and he was punished for his uncoordinated aggression with straight jabs and accurate counter crosses and hooks.       

Alfred capitalised on the furry of Danso to end the fight in the sixth round when he ducked a thunderous right hook and replied with a double fisted challenge which left Danso sprawling on the canvas to even the knockdowns.

The last two rounds showed that fatigue was taking its toll on both boxers as they resorted to clinching and had to be separated several times by the referee. 

And when the verdict was announced it went in favour of Alfred on the score cards of all three judges, giving him a unanimous, points' victory over Danso.

In other fights of the night, Bremah Kamoko got a unanimous decision over Flash Issaka in a six round super middleweight contest while Theophilus Quaye out pointed Ali Alabi over six rounds in a featherweight fray.

Ben Neequaye stopped Kwabena Sarfo via a technical knock out (TKO) in the last of Their six round super-lightweight duel and Lantekwei Hammond stopped Togolese, Saruna Fatiu who was making his pro debut at the "Night of Chukuchaka."

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Exchequers win Mobitel Hockey Knockout

Accra (Greater Accra) 12 February 2001

 

Exchequers of Bank of Ghana defeated Trustees of Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) 5-4 on penalties in the finals to win the Mobitel hockey knockout competition played in Accra on Saturday.

Full time scores were 1-1 and when the penalty rule was invoked, Exchequers scored four as against three by Trustees.

The game was only three minutes old when Eddie Odamettey scored the first goal for Exchequers when his beautiful strike beat goalkeeper Adolf Adjei of Trustees.

Trustees rallied up and scored the equaliser 10 minutes later through enterprising Ben Sam.

Disaster, however, struck Trustees midway in the second half, when their central defender Ben Baiden was sacked for a second bookable offence, but their opponents could not use their numerical advantage to score more goals until full time.

In the Ladies category, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) beat Ghana Police 1-0 to win the trophy.

Irene Yarboi scored the only goal of the match two minutes to full time.  

The competition, organised by the Greater Accra Hockey Association (GAHA), was sponsored by Millicom Ghana Limited, operators of Mobitel mobile phones.

Mr Morray Sivan, Managing Director of Millicom Ghana Limited said it is the policy of his company to support the community in which it operates.

He said his company would continue to support the development of sports since the government alone could not shoulder all responsibilities.

Mr Eric Okine, Chairman of GAHA, said the International Hockey Federation (IHF) has declared this year as "Hockey for the Youth" and appealed to corporate bodies and institutions to help develop the sport and to unearth talents.   

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