GRi Sports 01 - 02 - 2002

Fan dies as Stars win

Black Stars ready for Nigeria

National Middle League to receive sponsorship next year

Polo coaching clinic ends in Accra

 

 

 

Fan dies as Stars win

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 01 February 2002 - A security officer with Fire Amour Company Limited at Kaneshie in Accra died of over excitement on Wednesday after the Cup of Nations match between Ghana and Burkina Faso.

 

Mr Sampson Minta, 59, watched the encounter with passion together with his colleagues at the office where he incidentally resides. An eyewitness, Mr Philip Antwi who is also a director of the company told the ‘Times’ that the deceased was depressed after the Burkinabe’s goal.

 

According to him, the equalizer came as a surprise, and the winning goal overwhelmed Minta so much that he celebrated it all over the premises of the company. He said a few moments later, Mr Minta was found in the house behind the premises of the company lying in a chair motionless.

 

Mr Antwi said they quickly rushed him to the Kaneshie Polyclinic where he was referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Minta is survived by a wife and four children. The body has been deposited at the Korle-Bu Mortuary.

GRi…/

 

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Black Stars ready for Nigeria

 

Segou (Mali) 01 February 2002 - The head coach of the nation’s senior national soccer team, Fred Osam Duodu, has given the assurance that with the spirit of underdogs, the team will peak against the star-studded Super Eagles of Nigeria when the two engage in a quarterfinal clash at the 2002 Nations Cup finals in Bamako on Sunday.

 

Admitting that the Stars played badly against Burkina Faso last Wednesday, Osam said he expected the difficulty his players faced against a rugged side like Burkina Faso, but did not anticipate the number of injuries sustained which seriously affected their play.

 

Osam said all the changes he made were as a result of injuries and praised the finishing power with which they overcame a late shock, fought their way up to level terms and finally crushed the Burkinabes. When asked what role luck could have played in the timing of the Black Stars two goals scored by Isaac Boakye, he said citing luck would be taking too much from the players who exhibited such great courage and unyielding spirit.

 

He said football is played in 90 minutes so if luck is the reason for scoring, then all goals scored in the 90 minutes could be so likened. Against the Super Eagles he said what is good is that the players will be playing with the spirit of underdogs, knowing that they do not have any super stars such as Kanu or Okocha and “their only strength is in their collective will.”

 

He believes that the idea of trading strength and skills with such celebrated world class players is enough challenge to let their adrenalin pump to the fullest. From a low point against Morocco to a better show against South Africa, the Black Stars last Wednesday put up what is believed to be their worst performance against Burkina Faso.

 

But the coach believes the pendulum will swing up again against Nigeria, expecting that skipper Emmanuel Osei Kuffour who had his first game last Wednesday will again lead the squad. He was full of praise for Kuffour, saying he was not seen much but did what he had been tactically assigned to do and released the ball when and where to with precision.

 

While the Stars did their morning training on Thursday at the March 26 Stadium, venue for the match, the Super Eagles confined themselves to gym work hoping to improve of the fitness of the side that beat Liberia 1-0 in their final group match also in Mopti.

 

Team coach Amodu Shaibu, was dead serious after, saying tha against a team like Ghana, his primary concern would be the fitness of the players to be in action. Prior to that, there had been speculations about the fitness of Kaiserlautern defender, Taribo West and Jay Jay Okocha, the Paris St. Germain midfield player.

 

Coach Shaibu’s stress on fitness could therefore be a confirmation that Taribo and Okocha may not be choices against Ghana and in their places the younger Karibe Ojigwe of Bayern Leverkussen and Udeze Efiany would start as also would Eric Ojiofor and Chelsea’s Celestine Babayaro.

 

Ghana is not anticipating any such dramatic change except that Isaac Boakye who shot himself into the tournament’s leading scoring group with Cameroon’s Patrick Mboma, would have another chance at another surprise.

GRi…/

 

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National Middle League to receive sponsorship next year

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 01 February 2002 - Mr Douglas Djarbeng, Chairman of the Division One League Board has said that from next year, the board would seek sponsorship for the national middle league and the sub middle league.

 

Speaking to GNA Sports in a telephone interview, Mr. Djarbeng said due to the large number of participating teams in the division one the board is not able to get sponsorship for it hence their decision to start from the top by limiting themselves to the middle league and the sub middle league.

 

Mr. Djarbeng said the national division one league comprises 48 teams and this deters many prospective companies from taking up the sponsorship of the league. He said the board would seek sponsorship for the middle league and the sub middle league before extending it to the main Division one league adding that contacts have already been made with a number of companies but the deals are yet to be finalised.

 

On the just ended middle league, Mr. Djarbeng said they had not been able to achieve 100 per cent success in this year event due controversies before and after the league. He said as at now there are still cases pending before the disciplinary committee and these has taken some marks from the success of this year's league as compared to that of last year which had only few problems.

 

Mr Djarbeng advised club chairmen to desist from under ground dealings in matches and to be honest in whatever they do so that the coming season would a success. He said football is not a game of life and death therefore people must see it as game which could be won or lost at any time and urged club chairmen to educate their fans. He congratulated clubs in the northern sector for showing sportsmanship in the division one league as well as in the national middle league.

 

On the Black Stars, he said the team is capable of getting far in the competition because they are now gathering momentum and expressed confident that they can beat Nigeria to qualify for the semi finals. He said the match against Nigeria is going to be real test for the Black Stars considering the rivalry between the two countries.

GRi…/

 

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Polo coaching clinic ends in Accra

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 01 February 2002 - A-one day coaching clinic organized by the Accra Polo club as part of a programme lined up by the Accra Polo Club to mark its centenary anniversary ended in Accra on Thursday.

 

The course took players through hitting and passing skills, horse ridding, hand direction, game strategies and basic safety precautions. About 12 members of the Accra Polo Club were taken through basic skills by instructors who are professional polo players from England and are in the country to engage a Ghanaian side in fund raising match for the Anphani Children's home in the northern region.

 

Speaking to GNA Sports Madam Lucinda De Laroque, British Airways Public Relations Manager for Africa and the only female in the British Airways team said in the past, it is only the well to do who play polo, because horses are hard to come by and are difficult to maintain. She said presently it is easy to keep and maintain horses and one does not necessarily need much money to play polo.

 

Mr Harold Awuah -Darko, a veteran player of the Accra Polo Club said when visiting teams are in the country such clinics are organized for them to impart their knowledge to Ghanaian teams. He said some players of visiting teams are quite advanced than the Ghanaian players hence the need for such clinics for them to improve upon their skills.

 

Mr Awuah-Darko said as part of their focus to demystify the game of polo as the preserve for the rich they would expose the game to as many people as they could by way organizing ridding in schools and for people who show interest in the game. He said the game of polo has developed gradually in the country because it was formally played by the British colonial masters but now it is an all Ghanaian affairs.

 

He said their aim is to get more people involved in the game and to get other African stares to promote the sport as well as to get sponsorship.

GRi…/

 

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