Abossey Okai will meet Kokompe in a tough Tug of War event on Saturday, 4th December, 2021 at the Fadama AstroTurf at 6:00pm.

Dreamland Sports Plus, the organisers are preparing for event, and their Communications Manager, Miss Sarah Awini says they are ready to roll and present all prizes to be at stake, such as medals, the giants trophy and products from sponsors.

She revealed the sponsors of the event as 8pm, Freedom Beer, Bavaria and Parle, hoping that others who love entertainment and sports will come on board.

Secretary General of the Ghana Tug of War Association, Mr William Ocansey said Tug of War is an exciting sports discipline many people love to watch, as it is for power and energy.

He said eight strong teams will take part in the competition to determine the best to meet other suburbs of the capital.

“We had a great event at Chorkor, Koforidua and Bukom, now we want to repeat and make people have much fun. This year we have begun on a healthy note and pray that we shall have a better event, after a successful trophy tour” he expressed.

Dreamland Sports Plus have promised to surprise some media personnel and organisations that promote the lesser known sports.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

COMMISSIONING OF MAMPROBI GIRLS SCHOOL ASTROTURF

Tomorrow, Friday 3rd December, 2021.

17:00

Mamprobi Girls School, Ablekuma South Constituency

Ghana Revenue Authority ( GRA ) won the Women’s Gold Medal match against Delta Queens of Nigeria and be crowned Women’s Champion at the Africa Cup of Club Champions in Accra.

The Ghanaians started very well and within seven minutes from the 30′ to the 37′ minute , the game was a rap for the Ghanaians with goals by Effah Barnieh Linda, Coffie Ernestina and Antwi Doris did the magic.

GRA were crowned winners with a whopping 3:0 win over Delta Queens.

Kada Stars from Nigeria defeated Eastern Company from Egypt by 2:1 to win the men’s bronze medal. Kada Stars started on good note with swift inter positional play with their danger man James Samaila controlling affairs so not so surprising Kada Stars took the lead through John Peter in the 15′ .

Eastern Company threw everything into the game and got the equalizer through Mohamed El Husein in the 25′. Kada Stars took the lead again through the danger man James Samaila in the 38′ and that proved vital for the bronze medal.

The executive board of the Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) has paid a courtesy call on the Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA) Professor Peter Twumasi at his office at the Accra Sports Stadium.

“It's with great honour to receive a National Boxing Champion's Belt from the leadership of Ghana Boxing Authority yesterday in recognition of NSA's contribution to boxing sport development and promotion in the country” said Prof Twumasi.

Present at the presentation were Executive Members of Ghana Boxing Authority led by its President, Mr Abraham Kotei Neequaye. The Deputy Director General (Technical) of NSA was in attendance of the short ceremony.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Olympic champions Karsten Warholm of Norway and Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica have been named World Athletes of the Year at the World Athletics Awards, held virtually again this year.

It was a particularly satisfying triumph for Thompson-Herah given the decision earlier this month by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) to award Canada’s Maggie MacNeil best female athlete of Tokyo 2020.

That choice was criticised by the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) general secretary Keith Joseph, who said his organisation was “shocked” that the swimmer was chosen instead of Thompson-Herah.

Thompson-Herah retained her Olympic 100 and 200 metres titles in Tokyo and won a third gold in the 4x100m relay.

Earlier in the season the 29-year-old from Manchester in Jamaica had run 10.54sec to take second place on the all-time women’s 100m list behind the 1988 world record of 10.49 set by the late American sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner.

Her Olympic 200m title-winning time of 21.53 put her one place behind another Griffith-Joyner world record in the all-time lists – the mark of 21.34 set in winning the Olympic title at the 1988 Seoul Games.

“I’m so happy for this,” says newly crowned Male World Athlete of the Year @kwarholm.

“First when I saw the time [in Tokyo], I was like, ‘This must be a mistake!’ Because I didn’t see that one coming. And I didn’t see the victory coming before crossing the finish line.” pic.twitter.com/BMCma5VmHy

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) December 1, 2021

Warholm produced one of the landmark achievements in athletics history during Tokyo 2020 as he took almost a second off the world 400, hurdles record of 46.70sec he had set just over a month earlier, clocking 45.94 in a race where the top three all finished inside the pre-2021 world record.

“I’m so happy for this,” said Warholm, who was followed home in the Tokyo final by Rai Benjamin of the US in 46.17 and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos in 46.72.

“First when I saw the time [in Tokyo] I was like, ‘This must be a mistake!’

“Because I didn’t see that one coming.

“And I didn’t see the victory coming before crossing the finish line.

“It was a very intense race.

“I knew the American and the Brazilian and all the other guys were really chasing me.

“I always go out hard and I never know what is going on behind me.

“I was just fighting all the way to the finish line.

“When I realised 45.94 was the reality I was thinking: ‘This is not too bad – I’ll take it!'”

Felicidades a Elaine ? https://t.co/yA5pqh09iS

— Yulimar Rojas (@TeamRojas45) December 1, 2021

Thompson-Herah said after the announcement of the award: “I just take it year by year.

“I went very close to the world record so you know, anything is possible.

“No spikes hanging up any time soon!”

Thompson-Herah said that next year’s World Athletics Championships in Oregon was her “next big target”, adding: “It is close to home, I hope friends and family can come out and watch.

“That couldn’t happen in Tokyo but hopefully in Eugene I can get my friends and family to come and cheer me on.”

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe paid tribute to 2021’s “jaw-dropping performances” during today’s ceremony.

“We have this year celebrated some jaw-dropping performances in Tokyo, at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi and through our one-day meeting circuits, the Wanda Diamond League and the Continental Tour,” Coe said.

“So we’re delighted to recognise some of our stars at tonight’s awards.”

Thompson-Herah received special congratulations from Christopher Samuda, President of the Jamaica Olympic Association.

“The Jamaica Olympic Association congratulates our Olympian, Elaine Thompson-Herah, for being selected Female Athlete of the Year by World Athletics,” his message read.

“It is indeed an admirable accomplishment, the reward for exemplary performances and a testimony to her valour in transforming the challenges of a year be devilled with the pandemic into inspiring feats.

“The Jamaica Olympic Association salutes her and exhorts her to continue to be driven in her athletic pilgrimage of excellence.”

This year’s female finalists other than Thompson-Herah were Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands, winner of the Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m titles and – briefly – world 10,000m record-holder, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, who retained her Olympic 1500m title, American Sydney McLaughlin, who won the Olympic 400m hurdles title in a world record of 51.46sec, and last year’s winner, Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, who won the Olympic triple jump title with a last round world record of 15.67 metres.

The men’s finalists apart from Warholm were Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, who won 10,000 metres gold and 5,000m silver at Tokyo 2020, Ryan Crouser of the US, unbeaten all season in the shot put, who set a world record of 23.37 metres and retained his Olympic title, Sweden’s 2020 winner Mondo Duplantis, who won Olympic, Diamond League and European Indoor pole vault titles, and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, who retained his Olympic marathon title with a winning margin of 80 seconds – the biggest at the Games since 1972.

An Inspiration Award went to Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy, who shared Olympic victory in the high jump.

Their joint decision to waive a jump-off after finishing dead level on 2.37m was one of the most memorable of Olympic moments – a spontaneous act of respect between two friends who had both returned to competition after serious injuries.

“It is just crazy if I think about this story,” said Tamberi.

“Thank you very much for this trophy.

“I now call Mutaz like five times a week because I need to speak with him.

“I feel that now we are not just friends, we are really like blood brothers.”

Barshim added: “I hope to inspire more people to love our sport and maybe share a gold one day!”

The award will have gone some way to mollifying the Italian National Olympic Committee President Giovanni Malagò, who accused World Athletics of “a lack of respect” after the country’s two Tokyo 2020 gold medallists, Tamberi and shock men’s 100 metres champion Marcell Jacobs, were left off the initial list of 10 nominees for the Male World Athlete of the Year award.

“It’s profoundly wrong,” Malagò told the Associated Press.

“We’re very upset.”

Malagò claimed the omissions amounted to “a lack of respect toward our two athletes”, although defenders of the list said it reflected the whole season, not just the Olympics.

The Female Rising Star award went to Athing Mu, the US teenager who was undefeated at 800m all year, winning Olympic gold ahead of Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson – also nominated – and then improving her own US senior record to 1min 55.04sec.

The Male Rising Star award was won by Erriyon Knighton, the 17-year-old US sprinter who bettered age-group records set by Usain Bolt with world under-18 bests of 20.11sec and 20.04 over 200m and then broke Bolt’s world under-20 record for the distance with 19.88 and 19.84.

He went on to finish fourth in the Olympic final with 19.93.

This study of women's high jump qualifying on a baking morning at the Tokyo Olympics won Ryan Pierse the Jean-PIerre Durand World Athletics Photograph of the Year award  ©World Athletics

This study of women’s high jump qualifying on a baking morning at the Tokyo Olympics won Ryan Pierse the Jean-PIerre Durand World Athletics Photograph of the Year award ©World Athletics

Britain’s former women’s marathon world record-holder Paula Radcliffe and long jump and singing star Jazmin Sawyers  hosted the event.

In a category now honouring the late, lamented French photographer and photo chief for many World Athletics events who died unexpectedly in October, the Jean-Pierre Durand World Athletics Photograph of the Year award went to Ryan Pierse.

The Australian photographer’s winning image was taken in high temperatures during women’s high jump qualifying in a morning session at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium.

“I wanted to illustrate the heat and how it was affecting the athletes,” Pierse said.

“I think it’s incredibly fitting that this award is named in memory of Jean-Pierre Durand.

“I had the pleasure of working alongside him, most recently at the Tokyo Olympics.”

Egyptian hockey club, Tairat humiliated Zamalek 7-2 to win gold in the men’s category of the Africa Cup for Club Championships hosted in Accra, Ghana.

Tairat beat the 1988 runners-up Zamalek at the Theodisia Okoh Hockey Stadium – in an all Egyptian affair to clinch the victory in style.

Tairat went all out with Ragab Ismail Abdallah and Moustafa Ragab Ismail to perform rout.

Tairat played well in the first quarter, scoring quick goals through Ragab Ismail Abdallah, Nasr Ahmed Elsayed and Moustafa Ragab after going behind through a Karem Mahmoud Hamza’s 4th minute strike.

Moustafa grabbed his second of the day in the second quarter before Ragab Ismail followed suit to take the game to a 5-1 lead for Zamalek.

With the game out of sight, Gamal Mohamed Ahmed scored a consolation before Tarek Mohamed Ibrahim and Essam Elsamman Eladham scored the sixth and seventh.

In other matches, Kada Stars of Nigeria settled for bronze after beating Eastern Company of Egypt 2-1  in the third place play off.

In a Ghanaian derby for fifth and sixth place, 2018 runners-up GRA were defeated 4-2 in a post-match shoot out following a 3-3 draw against Ghana Army.

Meanwhile Kenya’s lone representative Wazalendo were eliminated in the competition at the preliminaries after losing all their group matches.

The Organisers of the annual Sekondi-Takoradi Marathon (STM), has assured all stakeholders that, the second edition of the event fixed for Sunday, December 26, will see massive improvement in the management and organization of the event.

Mr. Henri Senyo Penni – General Manager of Medivents Consult, Organisers of the event stated that, his outfit had learnt a lot of useful lessons, after successfully organizing the maiden edition in 2020.

According to Mr. Penni, this year’s event would witness a more efficient management of the 21-kilometer route for the race, whilst the security of athletes would also be given a top priority.

He added that they would also engage the Police Service in Takoradi to discuss the security of athletes, and all participants as well as the finish points, adding that, his outfit was more concerned the security of athletes.

Speaking in an interview with the GNA Sports, he said his outfit had made contacts with the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) to inspect and certify the routes for the race to meet the standards of World Athletics.

Mr. Penni added that, plans were in place to set a well-resourced medical lounge at the finish point to ensure that athletes who will have medical issues would be given adequate care.

“The STM is gradually becoming one of the biggest races in the country due to the successes it chalked last year and we are ready to make it bigger,” he added.

Commenting on the prize package for the second edition, he said they are in consultation with their sponsors to improve the prizes for the winners in both male and female categories.

He said they would also introduce other prize categories such as “The Youngest Runner” “The Oldest Athlete”, “Winner for security services” among others.

The STM is sponsored by Africa World Airlines (AWA), mybet.africa, Lucozade, and Cowbell.

The STM is under the auspices of the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC), and organized by Medivents Consult with support from Total Marketing and Tours Limited (TMTL).

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Highlife sensation, Gladstorm Kwabena Akwaboah Jnr., known by his stage name, Akwaboah Jnr, is set to entertain patrons at the 46th MTN Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) Awards which comes off at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) on Friday, December 17, 2021.

The smooth-talking artist joins a long list of elite performers, including Amakye Dede, the Ramblers International Band, Samini and Kwabena Kwabena, to perform at the awards in line with SWAG tradition.

The SWAG President, Mr Kwabena Yeboah explained that the decision to sign high profile musicians such as Akwaboah Jnr to perform at the prestigious awards fell in line with the association’s tradition to provide stakeholders with quality entertainment on such a hallowed platform to celebrate the outstanding achievements of Ghana sports in 2021.

“This year, patrons should expect an electrifying performance from Akwaboah Jnr who has carved a niche for himself in the music industry especially in the highlife genre,” the SWAG president said.

Akwaboah Jnr, whose hit songs include Posti Me, Ensesa, I do Love You and Ntro Naa, told www.swagghana.com that he was delighted to be chosen as the lead act for the 46th SWAG Awards and will be looking forward to giving out his best on the night.

He commended SWAG for leading the way in awarding deserving athletes whose performances unites the country therefore he was excited to perform on the stage at the nation’s premier awards.

Over 30 sportsmen and sportswomen are expected to be honoured at the 46th MTN SWAG Awards which is being supported by GOIL, Ghana Free Zones Authority (GFZA), National Lottery Authority (NLA) Betboro Ghana and ASKOF Productions

MTN Ghana Foundation has donated GHC5Million to National Covid Trust Fund to support government’s effort in combating Corona Virus pandemic in the country. This presentation brings MTN’s total contribution to the National COVID Trust Fund to Ghc10 million.

Speaking at a ceremony to present the cheque to Trustees of the Fund at the Jubilee House, the CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr. Selorm Adadevoh expressed his gladness at the opportunity given to MTN to demonstrate its commitment to the people of Ghana by supporting the Trust Fund in their fight against COVID-19.  He said, “Our support to the Trust Fund is to ensure the Government’s strategy in combating the pandemic is fully achieved”.

“We believe this will help immensely to provide the needed PPES, education and other services for the people of Ghana and most importantly to brighten lives as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary”, he added. 

Receiving the cheque on behalf of the Trustee of the National Covid Trust Fund, the chairperson of the Fund, Justice Sophia Akuffo, said, “The contributions have dwindled over the past year. I'm happy that MTN Ghana has come through. MTN Ghana has been a key supporter of the Covid Trust Fund and has contributed a total sum of 10 million Ghana cedis. It is one of the few organizations to have contributed this much to support the fight against COVID-19 in Ghana. We are truly grateful for their assistance.”

She added that, “There seems to be this false notion among the public that the pandemic is gone. The fact is the extent of the pandemic has been quite devastating and continues to cause death. There seems to be evidence of a new variant developing. We continue to encourage the Ghanaian citizenry to continue to adhere to all the COVID-19 protocols. We also strongly encourage that you get vaccinated. We are grateful to MTN and we hope other organizations will follow their example as we all work to fight his deadly virus.”

The donation to the National COVID-19 Trust Fund is one of the many interventions by MTN Ghana to help stem the COVID 19 pandemic. At the time when the nation was highly in need of PPEs, test kits and PCR Machines in 2020, the MTN Ghana Foundation donated 44,000 Personal Protective Equipment, four (4) Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Machines and Test Kits to the National COVID Trust at the cost of GHS 5 Million. The donation was to help the National Covid Trust Fund enhance the protection of all health personnel in the fight against COVID -19 in the Country.

Some of the other key interventions include: Collaboration with the National Information Technology Authority (NITA) to offer all Government workers free access to the Smart Workplace Portal to support Government’s work from home program, protecting the customer through the provision of critical health information, providing free internet access to over 200 websites for online education for public and private institutions, free MoMo transfers up to Ghc100 a day and revision of MoMo wallet limits. MTN Ghana supported the infection monitoring and contact tracing team through the provision of 800 SIM Cards and 8 Terabytes of data to National Security and 10 TurboNet fixed wireless devices with over 2 terabytes of data to the COVID-19 Response Team for use by contact tracers. MTN has also deployed mobile money merchant accounts as collection conduits to support Government institutions such as the Ministry of Finance and the First Lady’s mobilization fund for COVID-19.

MTN Ghana also contributed three educational campaigns aimed at getting people to live responsibly. “Be Wise”,  Wear it for me” and “One More Push” campaigns  were to encourage people across the continent not to give up in the fight against COVID-19, and to continue to wear their masks, wash their hands and practice social distancing.

On the vaccination front, MTN Group donated USD$25million to support AU’s vaccination rollout across 55 member states to cover 7 million vaccine doses for health workers.

MTN Ghana Foundation will continue to support efforts aimed at mitigating the impact of COVID -19 in Ghana.

Source: MTN Ghana

Prince De Henry Celebrates 20 Years Anniversary: Programmes Line up Revealed By Proprietor Armah

The Prince de Henry Educational Complex is celebrating its 20 years anniversary with a line up of programmes and events from December 11 to 19, 2021.

According to the proprietor of the popular Educational Complex at Laterbiokorshie in Accra, Mr. Archiebald Nii Martei Armah, the Lord Almighty has been good to him, his teachers, students and pupils so they want to celebrate and praise Him in grand style.

He expressed that two decades is not an easy journey, but they have move on in smooth and hard times to achieve many successes.

He commended all the staff and kids in the school for their discipline and hoped that they would continue to perform remarkable deeds.

He announced that the anniversary events will start with a Health Walk on December 11 from Ayi Mensah to Peduase Lodge, Aburi then Lectures & Achievements on December 13.

According to him, there would be a Clean up Exercise and Fixing of Bus Stop Shade on December 14, then on December 15, the 20 Years Anniversary Mega Worship 9 Lessons & Carals, on December 16 there would be an Exhibition, Health Screening, NHIS Registration and Inter School / Teachers Gala, Our Day is on December 17 when a Food Bazaar / School Jams would be organized.

Mr. Armah noted that December 18 would be the 20 Years Celebration & Annual Graduation Ceremony, then the Thanksgiving Service at the St. Luke Methodist Church at Abossey Okai. Later in the day, the Teachers Awards Night Dinner would also come off.

He urged all pupils, students, past students, parents and the general public to join in the celebrations which is under the theme “ Celebrating God’s fruitfulness”.

Prince De Henry has awarded scholarships to some students who have talents in sports, especially boxing.

By Sammy Heywood Okine