GRi Sports Ghana 24 - 09 - 2001
Star Premier League 20th week match results
and standings
Hearts hold Bofoakwa 1-1 in Sunyani
Brong Ahafo United confirm superiority
Zigah, Millicent retain Milo Marathon
trophies
Third Ghana-Korea friendship marathon held
at Tema
Star Premier League 20th week
match results and standings
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2001 - Results of the 20th week Star Premier League matches honoured on September 23, 2001.
Sunyani: Bofoakwa 1 Hearts 1 Accra: Olympics 2 Arsenals 0
Kumasi: King Faisal 1 Dawu 1 Obuasi: Adansiman 2 Maxbees 1
Sekondi: Hasaacas 3 Liberty 1 Asuom: K’bibirem 2 RTU 1
Accra: Ghapoha 1 Kotoko 0 Nkawkaw: Okwawu vs Goldfields (postponed)
Standings
Club Local/Region P W D L F A Pts GD
Hearts Accra, Greater Accra 20 14 4 2 38 11 46 +26
Kotoko Kumasi, Ashanti 19 14 2 3 30 7 44 +23
Goldfields Obuasi, Ashanti 19 10 2 7 29 14 32 +15
Hasaacas Sekondi, Western 20 9 3 8 21 21 30 0
RTU Tamale, North 20 8 4 8 19 17 28 +2
Bofoakwa Sunyani, Brong Ahafo 19 6 7 6 18 16 26 +2
Ghapoha Tema, Gt. Accra 20 6 7 7 14 13 25 +1
Okwahu Nkawkaw, Eastern 19 6 6 7 21 22 24 -1
Kwaebibrem Asuom, Eastern 20 7 3 10 17 20 24 -3
Liberty Accra, Greater Accra 19 6 5 8 21 26 23 -5
B. Arsenal Berekum, Brong Ahafo 20 6 4 10 14 29 22 -15
K. Faisal Kumasi, Ashanti 20 6 6 8 14 17 21 -3
Gt. Olympics Accra, Gt. Accra 20 4 8 8 14 19 20 -5
Adansiman Obuasi, Ashanti 20 5 5 10 18 24 20 -6
Maxbees Suhum, Eastern 20 5 4 11 17 38 19 -21
NB: King Faisal was penalised for fielding an unqualified player in the first round. They lost four points as a result. The GFA is yet to rule on the 18th week match between Bofoakwa and Asante Kotoko, which ended abruptly.
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Ghapoha stun Kotoko 1-0
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2001 - Harbour boys, Tema Ghapoha Readers, stunned Kumasi Asante Kotoko 1-0 in their Star Premier league match played before a capacity crowd at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday.
The result leaves Kotoko at the second position still on 44 points (pending the determination of their match against Bofoakwa which ended abruptly) and giving leaders, Accra Hearts of Oak, who are now on 46 points a breather.
Ghapoha shot into the lead as early as the fifth minute when unsung Samuel Hansen whipped a low shot from a crowded goalmouth past Osei Boateng in goal for the visitors.
Alex Awuah rounded two Kotoko players and tailored a pass to Sam Ocran, who saw Hansen arriving and pushed the ball into his path. Hansen chose a spot near the right upright and jabbed in a thunderbolt, which won the maximum points for Ghapoha and pushed them farther away from the relegation zone.
Kotoko accepted the challenge and throttled harder in search of the leveller but Joe Otchere, Shilla Alhassan and Stephen Oduro saw their efforts being nullified by Joe Osei in the heart of the Ghapoha defence and goalkeeper Abukari Kankani, who stood tall on many occasions.
The potency of Kotoko's attack was reduced considerably when skipper Godwin Ablordey was red carded in the 30th minute for pumping his elbow into the face of goal-scorer, Sam Hansen.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Kotoko dominated the second half as they pushed more men forward. They laid siege in the half of Ghapoha and threatened continuously, but the defence of the Tema side remained resolute and warded off all their incursions.
Ghapoha sat back, soaked the pressure and played on the break. Their tactics sometimes caught the Kotoko defence reeling desperately to prevent another goal. Joe Hendricks played well at the back and gave keeper Boateng a lot of cover.
Boateng made a spectacular intervention in the 86th minute when he rushed out to pick the ball from the foot of Sam Ocran who had meandered through the Kotoko defence and at the other end, Kankani had to stretch full length to tip a cannon from Anas Mohammed to corner, with a minute to the end.
FIFA referee FK Mensah ended proceedings after four minutes of added time.
The match was played at the Accra Sports Stadium because of the temporary closure of the Tema Sports Stadium for renovation work.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2001 - Resurgent Accra Great Olympics managed a 2-0 win over Berekum Arsenals in their 20th week Star league match played at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Under the instructions of Cape Coast-based class one referee, S. Essel-Walker, both teams moved swiftly into action in their bid to annex the maximum three points.
It was a match that could best be described as the match of the equals even though Olympics had numerical advantage over Arsenal as early as the second minute when Frank Yeboah was shown a red card for intentionally bringing down Frank Adjei of Olympics in the penalty box.
With their newly found strength and determination, Olympics wasted no chance in scoring their first goal when David Lakotey converted the resultant spot kick.
Spurred on by this early lead, Olympics fought hard to increase the tally but wasted many of the goal scoring chances that came their way especially in the 32nd and 35th minutes when Kobina Dadzie's powerful shots went over the bar.
On resumption, Olympics came back a more improved side but continued wasting their chances as balls were shot over the bar or went straight into the waiting arms of goalkeeper Isaac Zigah in post for Arsenals.
As Olympics hoped against hope of scoring again, J.B. Danquah put back smiles on their faces when he increased the tally for his side in the 82nd minute.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 24 September 2001 - Tottering King Faisal struggled to hold Dawu Youngsters 1-1 in their match played at the Kumasi Sports Stadium on Sunday.
Dawu took the lead in the 46th minute through Awudu Adama who capitalised on a defensive blunder to score and Ronaldo Adama equalised on the stroke of full time.
Faisal would have had themselves to blame if they had lost the game for, they had all the chances to win the match but blew them away especially, in the 45th minute when Abubakar Yehuza shot over the bar after Dawu's goalkeeper William Amamoo had brought down Ben Wilson for a penalty.
Faisal remain on the fringes of the relegation zone on 21 points.
The homers started the game in a whirlwind fashion and earned a free kick, just outside Dawu's penalty box but the chance was wasted.
Dawu snatched the leader through Awudu Adama in the 46th minute when he capitalised on a defensive blunder to slot home.
Faisal brought on fresh limbs by taking out Kwabena Opoku, Eric Gawu and Nurudeen Asibi for Isaac Addo and Ronaldo Amadu and Moro Amartey respectively.
They piled on the pressure and bombarded Dawu's goal area but goalkeeper Amamoo proved unyielding as he grabbed almost all the goal bound shots until Ronaldo Amadu beat him on the stroke of full time, bringing the final scores to one apiece.
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Hearts hold Bofoakwa 1-1 in Sunyani
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2001 - Defending champions, Accra Hearts of Oak consolidated their lead in the Star Premier League when they drew 1-1 away with Bofoakwa at the Sunyani Coronation Park on Sunday.
With second placed Kotoko losing 0-1 to Ghapoha on Saturday, the Phoibians have taken a step towards the retention of the title and winning it for the fifth time on the trot.
Hearts went into the match without big names, Osei Kuffour and Charles Taylor, but the Phobians attacked in bursts and went ahead in the sixth minute through Edmund Copson.
The visitors stunned the home side with the early goal and sustained the pressure, looking for the second and when Kwame Antwi's cannon grazed the bar in the 18th minute, Bofoakwa realised the need to shake up the slumber to avoid a massacre.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Mohammed Alhassan stood tall with some excellent interventions to keep the score 1-0 at half time.
During the second half, Bofoakwa stepped up their game and matched Hearts boot for boot, contesting every ball and covering every blade of grass on the field.
The fast pace of the game might have taken its toll on the players as the game slowed down considerably, a situation which suited the homesters who had found the swift running Hearts players difficult to contain.
In the 66th minute, Abdulai Tahiru evened score when he slotted home a shot to silence the vociferous Hearts supporters.
The game wore on with action swinging from one end to the other and despite maximum substitutions made by both sides, no more goals were scored until referee Solomon Yamoah ended proceedings.
In another encounter, Obuasi Adansiman beat visiting Suhum Maxbees by two goals to one at the Obuasi Len Clay Stadium.
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Brong Ahafo United confirm superiority
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 24 September 2001 - Brong-Ahafo United football club beat local Topsymore 1-0 in their FA soccer match played at the Sunyani Coronation park on
Saturday.
Kwabena Boateng scored the only goal in the 28th minutes.
By that victory, B.A. United, have confirmed their superiority over the latter, having beaten Topsymore in both home and away matches in the ongoing first division league and currently leading in the Northern zones of the first division league.
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Zigah, Millicent retain Milo Marathon
trophies
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2001 - Defending champions, James Zigah and Millicent Boadi retained the Accra Milo Marathon championship trophies they won last year when they edged out over 3,000 runners to win the Men's and Women's division respectively of this year's event held in Accra on Saturday.
The 42-kilometre Nestle Ghana Limited sponsored race which saw veterans like Alex Effah, Timothy Mandela who came second, and debutant David Afesame dictating the pace well into 17 kilometres, the Cantonment-based Zigah, displaying sufficient strength of character, ran from behind to win the race with an impressive time of two hours 26 minutes.
Having taken the lead around 37 Military Hospital, Zigah proved to hot for pursuers who gave the challenge after some kilometres leaving him to stretch home to victory with ease.
Afesame, who placed third showed initial promise in the morning's race which received an insurance cover of 1.15 billion cedis from State Insurance Company, with some good strides, but lost out of steam during the home stretch for Zigah and Mandela to go past him.
Gifty Koomson took the second position with the third position going to Faustina Yankson in the Women's event.
For their prizes the champions in each category had an amount of 1.8 million cedis, Nestle products and a trophy, the runners up had 1.3 million cedis while the third placed had 600,000 cedis.
Evans Oku, Charles Boadi and Maxwell Arko were the proud winners of the U-15 event in that order while Bortso Silorm, Mary Mensah and Emma Eshun also won in the Ladies category of the U-15.
They had a bursary of ˘600,000, ˘400,000 and ˘200,000 and computer accessories for their schools.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama, the Vice President in an address read for him said there is the need to sensitise the youth to the importance of keeping fit and healthy at all times in order to be more productive and contribute meaningfully to the economic growth of the nation.
For this reason, he said the government is sparing no effort in positively supporting the promotion of sports in the country.
He called for private sector participation in the promotion and development of sports since the government alone cannot shoulder such responsibilities.
Alhaji Mahama tasked the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to ensure that every land demarcated for sports development is protected.
Mr Colin Taylor, Marketing Manager of Nestle Ghana Limited called on the government to give tax relief on materials used for sports development.
Mr J.N.O. Ankrah, Chairman of the Dansoman Keep Fit Club, called on the National Sports Council to pursue and nurture all youth talents, which are being unearthed yearly at the race.
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Third Ghana-Korea friendship marathon held
at Tema
Tema (Greater Accra) 24 September 2001 - The Ghana Korea Residents Association on Saturday organised its third annual 16-kilometre marathon at Tema as part of activities to foster unity among Ghanaians and the Korean community in the country.
Mr Yahaya Mutah, a resident of Tema who won the race received a 21-inch Samsung colour TV, Mr Emmanuel Odum placed second for a Compact disc sound system and Mr Paul Okuddjeto took home a bicycle for the third prize.
Special prizes were awarded for the children and women who participated, with Master Yaw Duvor, an 11-year-old athlete receiving a special award for placing 12th among the 150 contestants, while Miss Mavis Arthur was honoured as the first woman to finish the competition.
Master Jin Suk Lee, a 17 year Korean who placed 95th and Miss Yae Lim Nok, were the only Koreans who completed the marathon.
In all prizes ranging from soaps, standing fans and sewing machines worth 15 million cedis were presented to those placed from first to 10th positions and winners of a lucky dip raffle.
Mr Eui Min Jeong, the Korean Ambassador in Ghana noted that there are over 600 Koreans in Tema engaged in various business activities including fishing, trade, hotel and restaurants and modernisation of the Tema Oil Refinery in Tema.
The Ambassador who also participated in the 4.4 kilometre walk said the Annual Ghana-Korea Marathon and Walk competition should be seen as a way of sharing friendship and strengthening relationships between the peoples of the two countries.
Mr Suk Kil Han, Chairman of the Korea Residents Association said the competition keeps on improving every year and the Associations intend to make it a major national event in the coming years.
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