6th African Women's Championship - Queens off To Equatorial Guinea

Ghana's football national women's team, the Black Queens left for Equatorial Guinea yesterday for the sixth African Women's Championship (AWC) which kicks off on Saturday.

The team made up of 18 players and 10 officials, left Accra via a chartered Air Force flight and are expected to arrive on time, settle in before their opening game against Nigeria on Sunday.

Though the Queens have participated in all the competitions since its inauguration in 1998, they are yet to win the title.

Their arch-rivals, Nigeria have won all the six events. They are, however, hopeful of winning this year's event.

Head Coach Gamel Mumuni told the Daily Graphic just before their departure that he was confident of their success, and after playing second fiddle to Nigeria for a very long time, the time was ripe for the Queens to also be crowned champions.

The Queens are drawn in Group B alongside Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia. Group A has Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea, Mali and Congo.

The tournament will be held between November 15 and 29.

After six weeks of training, the 18 players who made it to Equatorial Guinea are:

Goalkeepers: Memunatu Abiba Sulemana and Gladys Quansah

Defenders: Aminatu Ibrahim, Ama Saabi, Olivia Amoako, Patience Kpobi, Grace Asare and Yaa Avoe.

Midfielders: Adjoa Bayor, Sheila Okine, Leticia Zikpi, Safia Abdul-Rahman and Portia Boakye.

Attackers: Diana Ankomah, Gloria Foriwaa, Rumanatu Tahiru, Faiza Ibrahim