Ghana Sports Excellence Awards 2nd EDITION

The Ghana Sports Excellence Awards has been a forefront for celebrating the heroic Ghanaian sports personalities team, athletes clubs admi nistroars and stakeholders for their outstanding achievements across the sporting spectrum. After the  launch of the 2^nd edition of the Ghana Sports excellence Awards  at the Accra Sports Stadium on September 18 , 2015, This years chairman Thomas Boakye agyemang , during the launch encouraged entries from individuals and orgainsations that have historically been reluctant t showcase their achievements , he added that winners would be selected through an independent judging process under the direction of a chief judge.

Ex-President Kufuor has been penciled for the lifetime achievement award, Vice President Amissah-Arthur is up for the Best Contributor to Disability Sports, while Hon Dr Mustapha Ahmed is in contention with the likes of the President of the Ghana Football Association, Lawyer Kwasi Nyantakyi, and the President of the Ghana Tennis Federation, Justice Yao Obimpeh for the Best Sports Administrator Award.

In a fierce competition, world sprint icon, Sani Brown (Ghanaian-Japanese), Memphis Depay (Ghanaian-Dutch), Jerome Boateng (Ghanaian-German), and Kwabena Appiah (Ghanaian-Aussie) were shortlisted for the Best Diaspora Athlete Award.

Four other top performers, George Darko (Tennis), Richard Seklorwu (athletics), Andre Dede Ayew (football) and Nafisatu Umaru (hockey) have been nominated in the Best Sports Personality category.

Viasat 1 TV’s Thierry Nyann, TV3 Network’s Michael Oti Adjei, Ghana Television’s Theophilus Sampah and United Television’s Romeo Oduro also made it into the Best Television Sports Reporter category.

The Best Radio Sports reporter category roped in Bright Kankam Boadu (Luv FM-Kumasi), Nathan Quao (Citi FM-Accra), Benedict Owusu (Joy FM-Accra), and Christian Chibueze (Kekeli FM-Ho).

In the Best Print Sports Reporter Category, Daily Graphic’s Rosalind K Amoh and Kwaku Zurek were shortlisted alongside Daily Guide Sports’ Kofi Owusu Aduonum and Ghanaian Times Sports’ Andrew Nortey.

For their immense financial support to sports in the country, Unibank Ghana, GLICO Group, Groupe Nduom Bank, and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation were picked out of a number of sponsors for the Best Sponsor grouping.

The Best Executed Development Programme category has the likes of McDan Open Tennis, Airtel Rising Stars, Sprite Ball, and MTN FA Cup competing for the covetous award.

The Ghana Sports Excellence Awards established in 2014 by Hallmark Plus Multimedia, are awarded annually to sportspeople who have been outstanding during the year under review. The 2015 staging of the awards is set for Accra on December 26, 2015.

The event is proudly powered by Hallmark Plus Multimedia and supported by IBOM LCC, Enya Events Management, SHARIS Events, Black Entertainment, Fashion, Film & Television Awards (BEFFTA), Metro TV Sports, arik air, TV3 Sports, Angel TV, Mtech Communications, Pepsi, Graphic Sports, Kessben FM Sports (Kumasi) and Western Group, publisher of the Daily Guide newspaper.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM KENICHI YATSUHASH

It’s a new day and as new season approaches Accra Hearts of Oak are clear on their intent to give their fans something to be happy about. Last season Hearts finished  th  and had their fans frustrated through out the campaign. Their last season ensures they don’t take part in Africa which in my view is a big blow to the management and how they could attract sponsorship.

Now with a new coach Japanese in Kenichi Yatsuhashi  , the big question is what to expect from him?

The Japanese coach has started pre – season training with the Phobians and in a statement he said He will try his best to make the fans happy by achieving their expectations and in turn make them happy.

Who is Keni?

Well according to his Wiki; Kenichi Yatsuhashi is Japanese of origin but lived most of his days in the  United States of America, he hold a USSF A and National Youth coaching license , a CONCACAF International coaching license , an NSCAA Goalkeeping diploma , and a KNBV advanced diploma.

 His last held position was in August 2015 with May Societa Ise FC junior Youth U15 and Judging from his job positions he is definitely new to the Afican terrain. Even though he has lots of coaching experience with youth teams , ladies teams and tactical experience. I believe he’s still got a lot to learn from this part of our contenient and how our style of football differs from Japan or USA.

A definite positive he will be bring to the club is his ability to develop players, it’s a great booster for Hearts of Oak youth teams and the goalkeeping department for the Senior team.

During his turner I expect to see more youthful transitions into the senior side to help boost the squad and also bring up some new gems for the local front as well. What I would love is to see Keni improve the goalkeeping department for the club which could help address the issue of non performing goalkeepers in recent times.

Over all it’s a plus to the Centurion club  but it will be too early to make assumptions of the system he will play and whether indeed he can win Hearts the League and the FA cup as he has promised.

Keni is also a social media fanatic which will be good for the fan base but he was quick to say he would check his usage of the platform , which indeed is a wise move just to stay clear of the criticisms and unnecessary media attention which will not be needed in his early years as a Foreign coach on the Ghanaian scene.   

UPSA SPORTS ROUND UP

Finally the semester has come to an end , there were some high points and low points in sports across the four corners of UPSA. First of all a big thanks to the UPSA sports directorate for seeing to the successful end of the competition. Here is a breakdown of all the action through-out the semester.

First we start off with football, the boys turned out in their numbers to ensure the competition was a success. There are 7 teams in the UPSA league however, TEAM GRASAG fell out at the start of the competition due to lack of preparation.  League commenced, 20^th February , 2015 with all 6 teams ready a fired up to annex this year’s bragging rights.  In all 14 matches were played between producing  31 goals , the league proved quiet entertain as per goal count , but the cheers from the ROYAL BOBO GROUP was what spared the boys to deliver. Marketing boys (BAMSA) proud to be the team to beat and really put up a challenge for the title and for me was the Fair play team of the league. They unfortunately ended the dreams when they lost to eventual winners Banking (BaFSA) two goals to one. That lose was enough to send Marketing boys hearts crushing, but as the saying “ one man’s meat is another man’s poison “ BaFSA however took that to their advantage to earn this year’s bragging right.     

For our female counter parts they failed to turn up again even though everything was in place to host their games. Again showing a lack of interest, or perhaps there’s not enough motivation for them?

TEAMS	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PT	POSTION
BANKING	5	2	2	1	7	6	+1	8	1ST
ACCT.	5	2	2	1	5	4	+1	8	2ND
MKT	5	2	1	2	5	4	+1	7	3RD
ADMIN	5	1	3	1	6	6	0	6	4TH
PROF.	5	1	3	1	4	4	0	6	5TH
INFO TECH.	5	0	3	2	4	4	-3	3	6TH
GRASAG

HERE ARE THEIR STANDINGS;

Basketball

Early at the start of this semester, we could smell all the good stuff TEAM UPSA’s Basketball team was cooking. Starting with the call-up of Coach Emmanuel Essel an experienced Coach in Ghana basketball , and also some successful friendly’s over Wisconsin and other schools just to get in shape for the UPAC Basketball games. Not to talk of the qualification to the UPAC finals, beating Central and Wisconsin in the Accra zone during the warm-up games.

These were all signs of good things to come for TEAM UPSA and UPSA sports enthusiast, I for once bet my last on UPSA to cause an upset in the tourney and even dreamt of holding my camera, capturing the moment. Sadly my dream didn’t see the light of day, Yes, even though we qualified for the Finals TEAM UPSA failed to represent some key players instrumental to Coach Emmanuel Essel’s Philosophy due to academics. Again it interfered with the sporting activities, which shouldn’t be the case. I personally fill the sports for credit agenda should be tackled with precision by the UPSA SRC to ensure UPSA not only competes but show up to the party with its very best, because if you really want to be the best you compete with the best.

It therefore resulted in UPSA’s poor showing at the tournament and our early exit; it was really a worry not only for Captain Delvin and his squad but also for Coach as one can only imagine the frustration on his face during the game and pressure put on the UPSA sports directorate trying so hard to make things work.

Well, let’s scrub all that and put it behind us, the UPAC games was however successful even for the highs and lows. Accra Polytechnic won their third successive UPAC tournament on a high note by beating KNUST in the final. Coach Brimah Lawal’s side managed a comeback after losing the first three quarters to win 57-40. As usual  A. Poly’s super stars  Farat , Romeo and Varanda were up to the task once again after some pep talks from the technical bench. This feat currently makes Accra Polytechnic the most successful in the tournament.

Looking into the future preparations for the main GUSA games are prepping up, also the Inter –departmental games will have an early kick-off this time around to ensure we have and even better and longer season this time around.

TEAM UPSA QUALIFIES AT THE LAST GAP

University of Professional Studies (UPSA) rallied from behind to beat Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) 25-20 to qualify for the finals of the 2015 UPAC Basketball Championship over the weekend.
Inspired by captain Delvin, UPSA delivered another masterful performance to beat their rivals in front of their home fans.
Led by experienced trainer Emmanuel Wobil, UPSA recovered from the first two quarters to deliver the sucker punch and ensured their passage to their first final.
The two teams entered the final stretch on the back of two successive wins and needed to win their decisive game to progress in the competition.
In the end UPSA displayed a little more experience and strong physical display to bag victory and sent their supporters jubilating deep into the night.

UPSA started the journey on a blistering fashion, beating Pentecost University 29-28 in overtime before accounting for Ho Polytechnic 28-13.
It was full of swing moving action but UPSA lad the last laugh by rallying from behind to beat their opponent and sent them crushing. UPSA has thus qualified from the Greater Accra zone 1 ahead of the finals next month.

                                                  Coach Emmanuel Wobil in action

Coach Emmanuel Wobil (UPSA) , in an interview per BASKETBALLghana.com stated he is aiming for the title.
Coach Emmanuel Wobil, whose experience came to hound GIMPA, says his side is ready to challenge for the crown.



“People did not believe in us but I kept saying we should keep our cool,” he told BASKETBALLghana.com
“We have achieved our first target of qualifying to the finals and so let’s wait and see how things go.
“Nobody should make mistake. We are a very strong side and capable of winning the ultimate.
“There are few areas we need to work on. But we showed tremendous character and we hope to build on that going forward.”
 



The next phase of the qualifying campaign takes place at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on Saturday March 21 ahead of the Ashanti regional championship which includes KNUST, Kumasi Polytechnic, Garden City University College and Christian Service University College.