GRi Sports Ghana 31 - 05 - 2001
Soccer-Germany's first black player Asamoah
scores on debut
Golf-Agbemor to defend Unilever golf trophy
Soccer-Germany's first black player Asamoah
scores on debut
Bremen (Germany) 31 May 2001
Ghanaian-born Gerald Asamoah became the first black player to play for unified Germany in their 2-0 friendly international win over Slovakia on Tuesday and the attacking midfielder marked his debut by scoring a fine goal.
"I thank God that my dream has come true. It shows that I made the right decision to opt for Germany," Asamoah said.
The 22-year-old's strong running and dribbling skills, as well as a superb 50th minute finish in a crowded goalmouth, stood out in an otherwise workmanlike performance by the Germans.
"Asamoah had a great game. Aside from his goal he made a lot of good moves. He showed huge self-confidence," coach Rudi Voeller said after the match.
Newspaper Bild daily gave the Schalke O4 player, who played for the German B team in March, a strong seal of approval on Wednesday.
"Asamoah is our new favourite," the paper said. "Asamoah wakes up a tired Germany. We want to see him in the qualifiers."
Schalke 04 missed out on the Bundesliga title this season when they were pipped by Bayern Munich, but the team took a consolation prize when they won the German Cup last weekend beating Union Berlin 2-0.
"I partied through with my colleagues from Saturday until Sunday. But I didn't touch one drop of alcohol. After all, it's an honour to play for Germany," Asamoah said.
Asamoah's rise to international prominence very nearly did not happen at all.
He collapsed after a second division match in November 1998 and like Arsenal's Nigerian striker Kanu, he was diagnosed with a dangerous heart condition.
Doctors said he should stop playing all sports for fear of suffering a heart attack but he was later cleared to play.
He now plays at his own risk and team doctors have emergency equipment on the sidelines just in case.
Asamoah moved to Schalke in the summer of 1999 where he established himself as a regular in Rudi Assauer's side.
His journalist father William first came to Germany from their home town of Mampong in Ghana when the youngster was four years old and found work at a tyre factory in Hanover.
Gerald joined him eight years later and says his earliest memories of Germany were of refusing to get out of his father's car to face the cold November weather.
He joined Hanover 96, helping them get promotion from the third to the second-division. During this time he received many approaches from Ghana to play for the country of his birth and he even took up the offer once but was not picked to play.
Racism has been another problem to overcome for Asamoah.
The Bundesliga has relatively few black players compared to England or France, and while nearly one German resident in 10 is a foreigner there is strong opposition to making Germany more ethnically diverse.
A lot of that opposition is visible on the terraces and Asamoah says he has faced racist abuse at some German grounds.
But some see Asamoah playing for Germany as a hopeful sign.
Many in Germany hailed the ethnic diversity of the French team that won the World Cup last year after the embarrassing first-round exit of an all-white German side.
In the Weser stadium, fans applauded the news that Asamoah would become the first black player to don a unified German strip and he got a standing ovation when he was substituted.
Black players have worn the West German strip before.
Borussia Dortmund striker Erwin Kostedde, son of a German woman from Muenster and a U.S. soldier was the first in 1974. Kostedde faced such hostility from racist Dortmund fans that for a while he only played in away games.
Hamburg's Jimmy Hartwig, also the son of a U.S. soldier and a German mother, followed in 1979. He too had bad experiences.
Asamoah himself insists he does not want to appear as a "black saviour" but he is keen to change attitudes in Germany.
"Just so that a few idiots realise that a black person can do something good for Germany," he said.
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Golf-Agbemor to defend Unilever golf trophy
Accra (Greater Accra) 31 May 2001
Francis Agbemor of the Achimota Golf Club would defend the Unilever golf championship trophy he won last year when this year's competition tees off at Achimota course in Accra on Saturday.
Mr Gilbert Morgan, Captain of the Club who announced this in Accra on Wednesday, said the one-day 18-hole stableford competition, open to amateur and professional golfers from Achimota, Tema and Celebrity Golf Clubs, is being sponsored by Unilever Ghana Limited.
He said the competition, which is the 37th edition and expected to attract over 150 participants, has handicap 18 as the entry qualification.
Mr Morgan said the 36-hole professionals event, which has at stake five prizes, will be played on Friday, June One.
Mr Ishmael E. Yamson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Unilever Ghana Limited, who is also the President of the Achimota Golf Club, is the special guest of honour.
At Tema, the Club's June Monthly Medal competition will be played on Saturday, June 9. Golfers use the monthly medal competitions to better their handicaps for major competitions.
The next major competition is the Tema Open scheduled from July 13-15.
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