Accra (Greater Accra)
13 November 2002-- The controversial decision taken by the three judges in a
Catchweight contest between Ayitey Powers of Ghana and Victor Kpodoenu of Benin
early this month has been reversed by the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) in
favour of the Beninoise.
According to the GBA,
the scores on the sheets of the three judges now stands at, judge one; Clement
Ashong 77 to 75 for Kpodoenu, with Confidence Hiagbe scoring for the Ghanaian as
79 to 75 while Emmanuel Brenya had it as 78 to 74 for the Beninoise thereby
giving the foreigner a 2-1 decision over the Ghanaian in the new verdict.
In a release issued
and signed by Mr. E.M.A. Charway, General Secretary of the GBA, he said after a
very exhaustive review of the fight it was noted that the preparations of the
scorecards and pairings were not properly coordinated.
Mr. Charway said there
was also an error in the in the placements of the two boxers adding that Ayitey
Powers who was supposed to be in the blue corner was mistakenly put in the red
corner, while Kpodoenu was put in the blue corner as a result instead of a
judge scoring for Kpodoenu, he rather went n for Powers.
According to the
General Secretary, judge one Clement Ashong used his discretion to score for
Kpodoenu, while judge three Emmanuel Brenya scored for red, but confirm the
mistake when two GBA officials drew his attention to it.
Mr. Charway said,
judge two, Confident Hiagbe however insisted that his core of 78 to 75 in favour
of Powers was his final decision.
He said the GBA
nullified the result and came out with a new because one of the judges had
written admitting wrongdoing adding that the score card showed evidence of
mistaken identity hence a reverse in the decision.
Mr. Charway reminded
the public that there are formulated processes of lodging protest when one is
not satisfied with a verdict therefore boxing fans must desist from rioting and
violent means of expressing their displeasure.
He expressed the hope
that the action of the GBA will not be taken as being motivated by the emotions
and negative reactions of fans but rather the authority's attempt to instil
sanity, justice and morality into boxing.
It would be recalled
that on November 2, during a Catchweight contest between Ayitey Powers of Ghana
and Victor Kpodoenu of Benin fans positively defied" a strange verdict by
the three judges.
The decision was met
with a spontaneous uproar and boos at the Ghanaian boxer when the fight was
ruled in his favour thus resulting in a commotion, which forced the promoter,
Arthur Don to deploy security personnel to control the situation.
The GBA first
suspended the verdict after 72 hours before coming out with he final decision
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra)
13 November 2002- The long awaited Table Tennis League kicked off at the Accra
Sports Stadium last Friday with Fire Service and Rambells "A" club
playing the opening matches.
The eight-club league,
which should have started in September, was delayed following the Ghana Table
Tennis Association (GTTA) efforts to go in conformity with the calendar of the
African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF).
The first round of the
league is expected to end in February next year, while the second round is
spread across the year.
In the opening match,
Rambels A Club defeated Fire Service by three straight games after David Mills,
Joseph Osei and Christian Aboagye had triumphed over Tweneboa Kodua, Samuel
Ashittey and Seth Darko 3-2, 3-2 and 3-2 respectively.
The league continues
on Friday, 15 November with attractive and interesting pairings as Rambells B
takes on Street Academy, with Ghana Navy facing Tema Table Tennis Club, which
is expected to be the toughest match of the day.
GRi…/
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