NJUACOCO win Milo soccer trophy

Kumasi, June 7, GNA - New Juaben College of Commerce (NJUACOCO) beat defending champions, Tamale Secondary School, (TAMASCO) 4-1 on penalties to emerge champions of the 12th edition of the Milo Inter-Regional Sports festival at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.

The week-long festival which was jointly organised by the Ghana Education Service and Nestle Ghana Limited involved the Primary Schools Under-12 soccer and Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) and Colleges soccer for boys and volleyball girls championships.

At the end of the regulation time both teams had tied at 1-1 with Alhassan Imoro scoring first for TAMASCO in the 17th minute and Richmond Kissi Boateng equalising for his side in the 64th minute. During the penalty shoot-out, NJUACOCO scored all their first three kicks with TAMASCO boys missing all their kicks.

Ashanti Region won the Primary School Under-12 soccer competition when they beat Eastern Region 3-0 in the finals.

The Ashanti Region lads took the lead in the 12th minute through Emmanuel Owusu-Sekyere and made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute through Augustine Ocrah to end the first half.

On resumption of the second half, the Eastern boys made some incursions but could not utilise any of the chances that came their way and allowed Ashanti to score their third goal in the 68th minute. Kumasi Girls Secondary School (KUGISS) representing Ashanti Region also beat New Juaben College of Commerce of the Eastern Region 3-2 to lift the girls' volleyball trophy.

KUGISS led by two straight games but allowed their opponents to fight back strongly to level up.

They however found their rhythm in the final match when they recorded a score of 17-13 to end the final scores at 3-2. The winning teams and the runner-ups and individuals who performed creditably were presented with trophies, shields, cash prizes, footballs, Milo products and "T" shirts.

Addressing the participants, Mr Tettey Aryee, Group Product Manager of Nestle, said the company's plan is to ensure that the competition involves a lot of the youth in sporting activities so as to develop their mental and academic enhancement.

"It is therefore our responsibility to sustain this holy matrimony or partnership between Milo and GES for our mutual benefit", he said. Mr Aryee announced that an amount of 300 million cedis was voted for this competition as against the 280 million cedis that was released for the previous year's for the efficient organisation, publicity and award of prizes.

Mrs Vida Drapson, Greater Accra Regional Director of Education advised the participants to continue to train hard to be able to achieve laurels for themselves and the nation. 07 June 04