The Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) schedule for 2016 will offer local- based athletes 11 qualification events to meet the standards required to participate in the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.

The GAA schedule of local competitions, which include five National Open Championships, five National Championship Circuits, as well as the Grand Prix, was released last Monday and designed to offer local athletes opportunities to qualify for the Olympics, which starts on August 5.

The local athletics season is scheduled to start on February 13 with the National Open Championship One in Kumasi before moving to Bolga on February 27 for the National Championship Circuit Two.

The Chef de Mission for Ghana's 2016 Olympic Games campaign, Chris Essilfie, says the choice of the nation's pre-games camp will be decided by the type of athletes that meet the qualification standards for the games.

According to Mr Essilfie, the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) is yet to settle on a location for a preparation camp ahead of the August 5 games because most of the nation's athletes will only begin the qualification process between February and March.

He was reacting to reports that Ghana had settled on Colombia for camping in an interview with the Graphic Sports.

"It is a very interesting story, this is news to me. Because nothing of that sort has come to the table of the GOC and it hasn't come to the table of the Chef de Mission as well," Mr Essilfie stressed.

Accra Hearts of Oak risk being sanctioned by football’s world governing body, FIFA, for their failure to fulfil their financial commitments to South African star, Shaun October, who is owed outstanding signing-on fees and salary.

The defender returned to his South Africa base at the end of the last season after making bit-part appearances for the Phobians and declared surplus to the club’s requirements after being transfer-listed by the Phobians alongside other players who failed to make their mark.

In a telephone interview with the Graphic Sports from his South Africa base yesterday, October indicated that he had instructed his solicitor to write to FIFA to assist him retrieve his money from Hearts. He is owed an outstanding signing-on fees of $5,000 and two months’ salary arrears, as well as a refund of his air ticket to South Africa at the end of the season four months ago as stipulated in his contract with the club.

After coming under severe criticisms for his team’s lackluster performance, Hearts coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi responded to his critics with a 2-0 victory against visiting Nigerian side, FC Ifeanyi-Ubah, in an international friendly at the Accra Stadium Tuesday.

It was the first major win for the Phobians under the guidance of the Americo-Japanese trainer following a string of successive defeats in pre-season matches, and with three weeks ahead of the commencement of the Premier League, yesterday’s emphatic win must have brought some relief to Yatsuhashi as he hopes to win over the club’s fans.

A goal in each half sealed victory for the Phobians in a physical encounter which saw referee Maxwell Hanson dish out so many yellow cards in an effort to stamp his authority on the match.

Hearts started off in a business-like manner, launching early onslaughts and succeeding in keeping the Nigerian side at bay and on the back foot, even though they lacked the finesse and

Football administrator Nana Oduro Sarfo says he has been motivated to run for the chairmanship of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) because he is determined to spearhead its turnaround and provide it with visionary leadership.

Mr Sarfo is contesting the position of GHALCA chairman, alongside the incumbent head, Alhaji Ali Raji; Kudjoe Fianoo, a former Administrative Manager of the association and CEO of AshantiGold, and Kofi Poku, an executive member of GHALCA.

In a statement of intent and his vision for GHALCA, a copy of which was sent to the Graphic Sports, the Berekum Chelsea official lamented how the clubs’ umbrella body had lost its focus, suffered an image crisis over time and had become ineffective in championing the interest of its members.

Influential and mercurial DR Congo star player Heritier Luvumbu has been ruled out of today’s semi-final game against Guinea in Kigali.

The artistic player who had been touted as one of the players vying for the prestigious player of the tournament award, picked up a serious knee injury in their 2-1 win over Rwanda where he was a thorn in the flesh of the Amavubi defence.

DR Coach Florent Ibenge confirmed the latest development to supersport.com at the team training where Luvumbu sat out in pain.

“It is very unfortunate Luvumbu will not be able to play in our semi-final game after he picked up a knee injury in our game against Rwanda. It is a big blow to us as he has been instrumental but our medical team will continue to monitor his progress,” Ibenge told supersport.com.

Rafael Nadal has had his request for a wild card invitation to next week’s Argentina Open accepted as the Spaniard rejigs his schedule after his shock Australian Open exit.

The world No 5 lost in the first round of a Grand Slam for just the second time in his career to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in Melbourne.

After his unexpectedly early departure the 29-year-old travelled to Mallorca to start training for what could be a make or break year on clay, starting now with the defence of his title in Buenos Aires.

The President of the Ghana Hockey Association (GHA) Mr Richard Akakpovie has expressed concern about the perennial neglect of the sport by the state, saying lack of government’s funding and logistics last year denied the national hockey teams opportunity to qualify for the Rio Olympics Games

“Had the government provided the requisite financial support, hockey would have salvaged the image of Ghana so far as intenerational tournaments were concerned,” he told the Daily Graphic in an interview.

Lamenting over the neglect of hockey in terms of funds over the last four years, Mr Akakpovie noted “ last year, our target was to qualify for the Rio Olympics ,but unfortunately, the ladies just missed out, and even though they missed out, they did very well because we had the best player and the best goalkeeper in the tournament in the persons of Nafisatu Maro and Bridget Azumah.”

The Ghana National Rifle Association (GNRA) has rolled out a five-year development plan aimed at winning medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.

The President of the GNRA, Cillian George Walsh, who announced this, said  the GNRA was also making adequate preparations to enable the national shooting team (Black Snipers) to participate in the Commonwealth Games in 2018.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Walsh noted "Our main focus is the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, so we have rolled out a five-year plan for that.

"This will  be preceded by the Commonwealth Games in two years even though we have the opportunity of qualifying for the Rio Olympics this year. "

Accra Hearts of Oak yesterday beat visiting FC Ifeanyi-Ubah of Nigeria 2-0 in an international friendly at the Accra Sports Stadium.

It was  Hearts’ first win after a string of defeats under their Japanese-born America coach, Kenichi Yatsuhashi, who has come under intense fire.

Newly- signing Samudeen Ibrahim capitalised on a sloppy defence after a volley from Eric Kumi to open the scores.

Five taekwondo practitioners resident in the Greater Accra and Volta regions last Saturday earned their black belts at the Ghana Taekwondo Federation Biennial Belt Promotion Test held at the WAM Taekwondo Academy in Tema.

The  five were among a group of 14 candidates who  excelled in  the strenuous promotion test , making it possible for them to earn different types of Dans (levels of black belt).

The black belt recipients were Messrs David Kodzo Amoah (1st Dan), Desmond Kodzo Nyarku (1st Dan), Alex Kumi (2nd Dan), Hannah Humphrey (2nd Dan) and Samuel Buckman (3rd Dan).

Mali came from goal down to beat Tunisia 2-1 in the quarter-finals  to advance to the semi-finals of the ongoing African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Rwanda.

Mohamed Ali Moncer gave Tunisia the lead in the first-half but a second-half penalty from Aliou Dieng and a goal with 10 minutes left to play from Abdoulaye Diarra sealed the win for Mali.

The victory sets Mali up for the semi-final against neighbours Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday.

Cote d’Ivoire themselves had to wait till extra time to  beat Cameroun

3-0 in their quarter-final encounter, while the Democratic Republic of Congo also dashed the hope of hosts, Rwanda, when they relied on extra time goals to win 2-1.

The Board of Directors of Accra Hearts of Oak had at its last meeting decided to place Coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi on five-match probation in the upcoming Premier League.

According to a source, the Japanese-born American’s fate hangs on his performance in the matches as failure to meet that target will earn him the sack.

Defiant Accra Hearts of Oak coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi is still certain that his side will triumph both in the League and the FA Cup.

The Phobians have struggled in most of their pre-season encounters but things appeared to have improved last Sunday when they played Inter-Allies in a friendly game at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Most Phobians have been skeptical about the prospects of the team in capturing the league let alone securing the double.

But the Japanese- born American insists he will bring the smiles back to the faces of the fans.

Aduana Stars number one goalie, Stephen Adams, says he is working very hard to make his way back into the senior national team.

He told the Graphic Sports in an interview that, “With my injury worries over and currently in fine form, I hope to use this football season to bounce back into the senior national team”.

Adams believes Aduana can repeat their 2009/10 season success story when they won the league for the first time.