GFA fines Kotoko, Taylor
Power play
Delorm Stars in warm-up
Hearts to
tame AS Douane
Ghana amateur
open golf on Easter Friday at Tema
Five for three weeks training tour
GFA fines Kotoko, Taylor
Accra
(Greater Accra) 11 April 2003 – Ghana Review International sports has gathered
that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has fined Kumasi Asante Kotoko ¢5m
for illegally using Taylor. Taylor himself has been fined ¢2m and has been
asked to revert quickly to Hearts.
Hearts however, has been urged by the GFA to open negotiations towards releasing Taylor who has expressed willingness to play for Kotoko, to the Porcupines.
GRi…/
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Power play
Delorm Stars in warm-up
Accra
(Greater Accra) 11 April 2003 - Power F/C who are waiting in the wings to meet
the third placed team in the national first division middle league in a playoff
for a premiership slot travel to Akwatia on Sunday as guests of Delorm Stars.
The match slated for the Akwatia Sports Stadium kicks off at 3:00 p.m.
Speaking to the GNA Sports about their preparations
Eric Mitchelle, team manager of the electricity club said they have prepared
adequately for the match and hope to use it as a dress rehearsal for their fray
against their division one opponents.
He said players such as Felix Gbadegbe, Sefa Boateng,
Dennis Odoom and Daniel Coleman are in great shape and called on soccer loving
people in the Eastern part of the country to troop to Akwatia to watch the
match.
The team manager said coach Ken August has done a
great job on the team and they are looking beyond qualification to the
premiership. "We are in top form and when we enter the premier league
again, we shall ensure that we challenge the heavy weights in the quest for
honour," he said.
Power, which placed 14 in the 16-team premier league
last season, will play the second runner up in the middle league on April 30 at
the Accra Sports Stadium with the winner joining the premiership as the last
qualifier.
GRi…/
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Hearts to
tame AS Douane
Accra (Greater Accra) 11 April 2003 - Accra Hearts of
Oak are set to make amends after two years of unsuccessful campaign at the
continental level when they lock horns with AS Doune of Togo in the
preliminaries of this years CAF Champions League.
The Phobians, who failed to glitter on two previous
occasions after taking Africa by storm in 2000 would have no option than to win
big against their opponents to put them on a smooth path for qualification to
the next round before the second leg match to be played in Togo in two weeks
time.
Also, a good performance would boost the morale of the
team to go ahead and make an impact in this year's champion's league. Having
bowed out of last year's championship via a false start, it would be in the
interest of the team to move past Douane to fulfil their pledge of going far
this year.
Indeed, it is a sigh of relief that the rainbow shirts
have expressed their zeal to put recent developments in and around the club
behind them for the sake of the campaign. Perhaps the club had noticed early
enough that all hands must be on deck to ensure a resounding victory.
To the connoisseurs of game, there could not have been
a better decision than the resolve of the Phobians to put their full
concentration on the match.
With the team already in high spirits, irrespective of
the depletion of the squad via various reasons including player truancy,
absenteeism and resignation, the club is still bent on taking Africa by storm
yet again.
Last year, Hearts attributed their first round exit to
inadequate preparations and they seem to have learnt from their mistakes by
embarking on a six-week pre-season training at Keta in the Volta Region at the
beginning o f the year.
Their participation in the LG Top Four Tourney also
appears to have contributed to a good preparation for the championship this
year, even though they failed to glitter in the tournament.
To a school of thought, the league champions are yet
to prove whether the absence of influential player, Charles Taylor would affect
the team or not though Hearts have managed to win some important games without
the dribbling wizard.
The striker who was set to lead the team both at the
local and continental scene might have jilted the team at the wrong time but
information gathered by the GNA Sports from Hearts' board room, training
grounds and the team's camp indicates that though the team would miss the SWAG
player of the year's absence, the team has been through the necessary psyching
to enter Sunday's game with the right mental frame.
In any case, though the Phobians look stronger on
paper with an array of super stars, the global leather game has moved way
beyond past glories and predictions and taking the Togolese for granted could
spell doom for their aspirations.
Unlike the Phobians who had a stand by in their first
stages, Douane qualified to this stage by holding Sony Ela Nguema of Equatorial
Guinea to a goalless drawn game away, before piping them by a lone goal in Lome
in the return encounter.
It is against this backdrop that the Hearts' set up
from the Boafos in defence to the Alloteys in the midfield through the Don
Borteys and Kuffours in attack must do the usual swift build-ups to annihilate
their opponents on Sunday to make the second leg a done deal.
GRi…/
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Ghana
amateur open golf on Easter Friday at Tema
Tema (Greater Accra) 11 April 2003 - The 71st
Annual Ghana Amateur Open Golf Championship tees off at the Tema Country Golf
Course on Friday 18 April and ends on Monday 21 April.
Professor Michael Ben-George, President of the Ghana
Golf Association who announced this at Tema on Thursday, said the four-day
scratch event, which is open to amateur golfers throughout the country, is
being sponsored by Silver Star Auto Limited, dealers in Mercedes Benz.
He said the competition, which is expected to attract
more than 200 participants, will feature crack golfers like Felix Owusu-Adjapong,
Alex Fiagomey, Nii Ankrah, E.T. Mensah all from Tema while the Achimota team
which would be led by their newly-elected captain, Sammy Adetola will include
Charles Tabi, winner of the Achimota Captain's Prize, F.A. Asorgba and Mawuli
Ababio.
The Deputy Minister for Youth, Education and Sports,
Joe Aggrey is expected to grace the occasion.
GRi…/
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Five for
three weeks training tour
Accra (Greater Accra) 11 April 2003 - Three Ghanaians
and two Nigerians are to embark on a three week training tour of the United
States some time this year at the invitation of the world renowned race walking
coach Dave McGovern, the foreign coach of Visco Walking Club.
They are Ahmed Tijani Sanni of the Ghana Armed Forces
Navy Sekondi, Stanley Briamah of Cape Coast, Yaw Fordjour all of Ghana, and
Odunuga Oluwale and Adebayo Bada all of Nigeria. They will be accompanied by
their local coach Albert Nukpezah of the National Sports Council.
The training tour is expected to put the walkers in
great shape for upcoming competitions including the All Africa Games. The selection of the five was based on
previous performances including the World Walking Cup held in Italy in October
last year.
According to the general secretary, Booba Clottey
coach McGovern of the World Class Race walking stated that the walkers could
have done much better at the competition in Torino, and this time around he
would ensure that they reached their optimum by the time major competitions
show up.
This is the third time Ghanaian walkers have been
offered the opportunity to train overseas. Asumang was given a three-year
scholarship, which ends this year and last year three walkers went over for
preparations in the United States.
GRi…/
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