UG WINS SILVER AT 23RD GUSA GAMES

The 23^rd Edition of the Ghana University Sports Association Games (GUSA Games) which was hosted by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) from 11^th to 22^nd 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 4^th 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 4^th 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 13^th, 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 27^th 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 11^th to 18^th 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 22^nd 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.