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The Sports Directorate of the University of Ghana seeks to enhance the fitness, health, well-being and holistic development of students, staff and the University Community, through participation in worthwhile sporting and recreational activities, and will endeavour to become the leader for change in the academic discipline and profession of Sports, in partnership with relevant stakeholders.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

UG WINS SILVER AT 23RD GUSA GAMES


The 23rd Edition of the Ghana University Sports Association Games (GUSA Games) which was hosted by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) from 11th to 22nd June, 2014 saw a sublime performance from the host institution.
COMPETITION RESULTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
In all, the Games brought out the best from the various universities. Team Legon displayed a lot of quality material in the various games and was the only Institution to challenge UCC who seemed unbeatable.
VOLLEYBALL
One would not forget the intense male volleyball match between the University of Ghana (UG) and University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) with a dramatic late 3-2 win. The intensity of the match and the late win forced dancing steps (contact the Sports Directorate for the video) out of dignitaries such as Dr. Bella Bello Bitugu (Director of Sports, UG), Dr. James Adumako (Dean of Students, UG), Dr. George Akanlig-Pare (Sports Advisory Board Member and Senior Hall Master, Akuafo Hall), Mr. Timothy Andoh (Hall Master, Mensah Sarbah Hall) and Coach Yusif Tahiru Amuda (Head Coach, University of Ghana).
BASKETBALL
In Basketball, the UG female team snatched victory from the threats of defeat from UCC in the dying
minutes of the 4th quarter and went ahead to win Gold. Mrs Regina Afari Boateng (Assistant Registrar of the Sports Directorate, UG) found it very difficult to sit calm in her chair as she saw her girls taking the game to the opponent. After drawing at the end of the 4th quarter, the University of Ghana Female Basketball Team, led by the University of Ghana 2013 Most Valuable Female Player Gifty Dedo and unremitting captain Tsotsoo Mills won the 5 minutes tie breaker.

REST IN PEACE ABDUL FATAU ISSA
This year’s GUSA Games was brewed with loads of ingredients such as stress, weather, fun, competition, friendship and team unity. But it did not seem enough as tragedy added itself to the list.
On the fateful day of Friday, June 13th, 2014, during a handball match between University of Ghana (UG) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Abdul Fatau Issa, fell down without any contact on the handball court. He had just completed his degree in Agriculture and was due to graduate on Friday 27th June, 2014. He died 50m away from the ambulance that was meant to rush him to the hospital. What sounded like a joke at first turned into a bitter pill that refused to go down everyone’s throat. The entire dining hall was cold and silent as one could even hear the sound of a pin drop.
Later that evening, Dr. Bella, Director of Sports summoned the whole Team Legon, where he consoled the team and offered some words of wisdom to maintain the equilibrium among the students. Abdul Fatau teammates from KNUST, the entire handball fraternity and GUSA mourned the loss of a friend, comrade, teammate, son and brother. As his Muslim religion demands, he was buried the following day.
His handball teammates kept his name on the team sheets throughout the tournament as a sign of respect and salute to his memory. All KNUST Games were placed on hold for a day and Team KNUST decided to continue with the games as a tribute to him. GUSA also decided to name the Handball trophy after him.
We ask readers to observe a one minute silence in honour of our son, friend, brother and teammate Abdul Fatau Issa as he rests in perfect peace with the Almighty One. Pray for his soul in whatever way you can and would like to.
HANDBALL AND HOCKEY
In handball, despite the tragedy, UG went ahead to showcase supremacy in the game and claimed Gold in both Male and Female divisions thus annexing the new Abdul Fatau Issa Trophy. In Hockey, both Male and Female teams won Gold.
NETBALL AND RACKET GAMES
UG performed well in the various racket games (Badminton, Table Tennis and Tennis) and won silver in Netball which was being played for the first time at any GUSA competition in which UG won silver.
GOALBALL
Goalball was played as an exhibition game for the first time at the GUSA Games. It was meant to show the role of students with special needs in sports. Participating universities were: University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast and University of Education, Winneba.
FOOTBALL
The football teams faced stiff opposition and the UG male team settled for Silver whilst the ladies had to go back to the drawing board as they could not defend the title which they claimed during the Mini-GUSA games at the University for Development Studies, Tamale in March 2013.

ATHLETICS
In athletics, with the UCC athletics track uncompleted, the competition was sent to Essipong Stadium. UCC snatched a total of 20 gold, 15 silver and 5 bronze medals with UG clinging 9 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals. During the athletics events, old GUSA records went crumbling. Emmanuel Asante from UCC, a former UG athlete, broke the GUSA record in Discuss, setting a new record of 44.30m from the initial 42.06m and in Shotput with a throw of 16.40m to beat the old record of 15.45m. Talata Rita Ayine from UG won Gold in Discuss with a throw of 26.47m. Janet Abdallah from UG also won Gold in Shotput setting a new GUSA Record of 10.79m from the old 10.77m.
Awudu Bachela Mujeeb also maintained his javelin prowess as he won Gold with a 55.65m throw.
 On the tracks, the great absentee was Ibrahim Malik from UG but he was duly replaced by Desmond Aryee who won the 100m men final with a time of 10:51sec and also picked up the Most Promising Athlete Award.
Abigail Dzamessi and Adelaide Sagoe from UG failed to impress due to illness and muscle pull. Akuka Williams, former MILO Marathon Champion, West Africa University Games (WAUG) 1500m Gold medalist and Gold medalist during the 2013 GUSA Cross Country (KNUST) also won Gold for UG in the men 5,000m race without facing any real challenge but rather finishing his race in style with a 200m sprint as he had conditioned his admirers to. He later added another gold to his medal tally in the men’s 1500m race.
SPECIAL AWARDS
Prof Aloysius Denkabe, lecturer at the English Department of the University of Ghana, former acting
Director of the then Amalgamated Sports Clubs of the University of Ghana, former GUSA executive member, former GUSA representative at Ghana Football Association (GFA) was awarded for his immense contribution towards the development of university sports in Ghana. He played a very important role when he served as a GUSA executive member.
Desmond Aryee from UG was awarded the most promising athlete. Beatrice Gyaman and Emmanuel Asante, both from University of Cape Coast, were also awarded the best female and male athlete respectively after breaking series of GUSA record in field and track events.
FASU GAMES
During the GUSA Games, the technical team selected athletes from the various universities to represent Ghana at the forthcoming All African University Games (FASU) from the 11th to 18th July 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya. 45 athletes were selected by GUSA from the various public tertiary universities to compete in athletics, badminton and Soccer. Out of the 45 students selected, 6 are from the University of Ghana as listed below:
1.       Mr. Desmond Aryee                       -              Akuafo Hall                                         Athletics (UG)  
2.       Mr. George Effah                             -              Legon Hall                                           Athletics (UG)
3.       Miss. Dorcas Nimako                      -              Hilla Limann Hall                                Athletics (UG)
4.       Mr. Attadanna Edmund                -              Commonwealth Hall                       Soccer (UG)
5.       Mr. Said Sadik Abubakar               -              Akuafo Hall                                         Soccer (UG)
6.       Mr. Seth Awudi                                -              Akuafo Hall                                         Soccer (UG)
DESERVING ATHLETE
Elizabeth Opoku, known as “Konami” is a level 300 student at the University of Ghana. Current Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) Awards winner for Best player in Hockey 2013, current African Best Player in Hockey and Current African goal queen in Hockey, is an astounding athlete who won Gold in Hockey and Handball. She took part in the 800m race and won Silver. She also won Gold in the 1500m race. She is very much dedicated to defending the colours of the University of Ghana and deserves to be rewarded by the university authorities for her dedication and diligence towards sports.
RESULTS TABLE
After the 10 day tournament in Cape Coast, The University of Ghana placed second on the general medals table just after the University of Cape Coast which was a repetition of what occurred in Kumasi in 2012 during the 22nd Edition of the GUSA Games. In all, UG won 20 Gold, 19 Silver and 13 Bronze medals. Below is the full medal table and ranking.
POSITION
INSTITUTION
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
1
UCC
32
31
8
2
UG
20
19
13
3
UEW
8
7
17
4
KNUST
6
8
27
5
UPSA
0
1
1
6
UMaT
0
0
0
7
UDS
0
0
0

UG DIGNITARIES VISIT TEAM LEGON IN CAPE COAST
With the aim of boosting and raising high the team spirit, various dignitaries visited Team Legon in Cape Coast. Prof. Ernest Aryeetey (Vice-Chancellor), Mrs Mercy Haizel-Ashia (Registrar) and Prof J. Budu (former registrar) were present in Cape Coast. The Dean of student Dr. James Adumako, Dr. George Akanlig-Pare (Akuafo Hall Master and Sports Advisory Board Member), Prof. George Armah (Commonwealth Hall Master and Sports Advisory Board Member), Dr. Angelina Danquah (Jean Aka Nelson Hall Master and Sports Management Committee Member) and Dr. Andoh (Mensah Sarbah Hall Master) were also present to motivate the teams.

APPRECIATION
Team Legon wishes to acknowledge the immense support provided by the Offices of the Vice Chancellor, the Registrar, the Finance Directorate, the Academic Affairs Directorate, members of the Sports Management Committee and Sports Advisory Board, the various Hall masters, Radio Univers, the student’s sports representatives, the various team captains, the staff of the Sports Directorate, the entire University community and well wishers. Most of all we say thank you to the student athletes and the technical team. By all above, we are certain that the relentless effort to promote Sports in UG was the fuel behind Team Legon’s major success at the tournament.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA READY FOR 23RD GUSA GAMES


23RD GUSA GAMES
The Ghana University Sport Association (GUSA) will be organizing its 23rd GUSA Games to be hosted by
the University of Cape Coast (UCC) under the theme “Harnessing talents for Ghana through University Sports” from 11th to 22nd June 2014. GUSA Games, since 1966, has always served as the platform for student athletes to exhibit their talents and proudly raise high the flags of their institutions. It is our hope that talents can be harnessed and maximized to their full potential and be able to represent both school and country in any competition.

INCLUSION OF NEW EVENTS
Notably in this year’s edition is the inclusion and introduction of Goalball (ball game for students with difficulty in seeing) and Netball.  With the addition of these 2 new events, 11 disciplines are competed in at GUSA Games: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Football, Handball, Hockey, Table tennis, Tennis, Volleyball.

PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES
Participating Universities for this year’s GUSA games are:
University of Cape Coast (UCC), University of Ghana (UG), University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Development Studies (UDS), University of
Mines and Technology (UMaT) and University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).

TOP GUSA CONTENDERS: UEW, UCC AND UG

The fiercest of athletics rivalries amongst various Universities will once more be showcased in all disciplines. In Athletics, the duel to watch will most probably be the 100m male race between Ibrahim Malik (UG) and Emmanuel Appiah Kubi (UCC). Adelaide Sagoe and Dzamesi Abigail both from the University of Ghana will also be challenging Asana Abubakari from the University of Cape Coast in 100m and 200m. Representing Ghana during the World University Games in Kazan (Russia, 2013), they formed the team which in July 2013, made it to the 4x100m women final and since then have been relentless on improving upon their individual performances.
In the ball games, the persistent rivalry between UG and UEW will be taken once more to the court. In Football, the host will be looking forward to a sweet revenge on UG following their dramatic loss to the latter in the finals of the 2013 Mini-GUSA Games at UDS, Tamale. Basketball and Volleyball will be mostly contended by UG, UCC, KNUST and UEW. 

DISPELLING THE “HOST AND WIN CLICHÉ”
Having placed 2nd at the 22nd GUSA Games held at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in January 2012, University of Ghana (UG) is eager to claim topnotch position in this year’s GUSA games. The University of Ghana has taken strides to motivate athletes and is therefore looking forward to crashing UCC’s dream of “host and win”. 

ATHLETES SELECTION
The University of Ghana in preparation towards this game selected various student athletes during the freshmen and inter-hall games (including the Basketball and Soccer Leagues) in the various GUSA disciplines in the first semester of the current academic year. Thus whiles school was in session, selected students were training actively towards the sole purpose of winning this year’s GUSA Games.

PREPARATION AND CAMPING
Selected students who have been training from the first semester, broke camp so as to enable them write their second semester exams. With exams set to end on Thursday, June 5th, 2014, they will resume active training on Friday, June 6th, 2014 until their departure on Tuesday, June 10th, 2014. The Sports Directorate of the University of Ghana has also put measures in place to make sure that the students are provided with the necessary incentives (feeding, accommodation and many more) during their training period.
The Sports Directorate has also made available the necessary kits to be used for training and competition. In all, the University of Ghana contingent “Team Legon” will be looking forward to make UG dream once more of those glorious days when UG massively dominated the GUSA Games.