MTN FA Cup champions, Medeama SC, have signed a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabian side Al-Wahda to promote a special exchange programme which includes exchange of coaches and business expertise.

The deal, signed at the Alisa Hotel in Accra on October 11, will see the Saudi Arabian club offering practical support for youth coaching, player development and expertise on fitness and medical matters.

It also entails the construction of a stadium and an academy at Dompim, the birth place of Medeama SC, to help in the development of youthful players.

Ghana's Under-20 female football team, the Black Princesses will travel to Adis Ababa this week to face their Ethiopian counterparts in the final round of the 2016 Women's World Cup (WWC) qualifiers.

While the Princesses beat Equatorial Guinea 3-0 on aggregate to reach this point, Ethiopia advanced at the expense of Burkina Faso on a 2-0 aggregate.

The Princesses leave for Adis Ababa tomorrow, hoping to put up a splendid performance to get a result that will ease the pressure when they host the second and final leg in two weeks for the Papua New Guinea 2016 tournament.

Two European scouts are in the country to scout for players for the European market at the invitation of Bechem United.

Nicolas Onisse and Marc Van Osselaer from France and Belgium respectively are expected to scout players in the Under-18 and Under-23 categories.

The team began work in Accra last Sunday and Monday when players were screened and a number of them picked for further screening.

Kingsley Owusu Achau, CEO of Bechem United, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said the scouts were impressed with the performance of some of the players after the last exercise for the Under-20 division yesterday.

The scouts are expected to move to Bechem for the northern sector scouting from tomorrow to Friday.

The two scouts had the privilege of watching players from the Unistar, Attram, Awudu Issaka and Emmanuel FC academies.

The third week of the ongoing Diwali Cup T20 Cricket Tournament witnessed a thrilling encounter in the final preliminaries last Saturday.

In the final game of Pool A, Super Max took on Oasis Cricket Club for a final semi-final spot of the group. It was an absolute thriller and had a nail-biting finish.

In this must-win match, Super Max batted first and put on 90 for the loss of eight wickets with Pradeep top scoring with 28 runs.

The Ghana Football Association will hold its Ordinary Congress on November 9 and 10 at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence at Prampram.

The 123 delegates are expected to review the activity report for the just-ended football season and to usher in the new season.

Ghana cycling is preparing to crown a new champion on Saturday as the three-day Cowbell Cycling League starts tomorrow at 9.00 a.m. at the Accra Sports Stadium.

The sport lost its most dominant rider and serial champion, Samuel Anim, last August when he died in a road accident on the Aburi Mountains. Anim’s absence has created a massive void ahead of the Ghana Cycling Federation's flagship tournament.

The road race, expected to be a very competitive scramble for team, as well as individual honours, will begin on a solemn note with a minute silence being held in honour of the departed 2014 SWAG Cyclist of the Year.

Accra-based technology tracking firm, Nsoroma GPS Tracking Systems, will kit the Nsoroma cricket team and provide equipment and logistics for their training as part of a new sponsorship deal.

The inaugural Rhythm and Rims community basketball tournament tipped off last Sunday with Tema Sharks defeating Korle Bu Kings 30-24 in a cagey encounter at the Accra Polytechnic basketball court.

Interestingly, the Sharks, coached by Emmanuel Wobil, trailed the Kings 2-3 after the first quarter, but rallied on the back of a solid defence and counter- attacks to lead 15-7 at the end of the second quarter.

Coach Wobil's side then maintained their hold on their tiring opponents with a 24-13 score in the third quarter, closing-out the clash 30-24 in the final quarter.

The management of Kumasi Asante Kotoko has assured the teeming supporters of the club of better times ahead as plans are underway to recruit quality players to help recapture their lost titles next season.

A statement signed by the General manager of Kotoko, Samuel Opoku Nti, yesterday recalled that “last season was a challenging one for the darling club as we failed to defend any of our titles won in the previous season.

“Efforts are being made by the board and management to recapture the trophies next season.”

The Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) has lauded Right to Dream Academy for their exploits over the years and said the association would seek to deepen its partnership with the academy as it identifies and develop highly educated football talents.

Yesterday some students of the academy, led by its founder Tom Vernon and its director of partnerships James Meller, presented to the leadership of SWAG a number of trophies the academy had won at international youth tournaments in Europe this year, as part the 16th anniversary of the academy based at Old Akradie, near Akosombo.

The Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin has called on stakeholders of golf to encourage the youth to take golf seriously for the benefit of the nation.

The Okyenhene noted that golf has a huge potential to build in individuals rich values like self-discipline and integrity.

Addressing the Okyenhene Invitational Golf Tournament in Tafo last week, Osagyefo said “I hold the strong belief that the game of golf requires and builds in all of us rich values like self-discipline and integrity.”

Lack of financial support that has become the bane of the lesser sports in the country is likely to hit Ghana's wheelchair racing team to deny them the opportunity to participate in  next year's Paralympic Games.

The team should have been in Doha by now to acclimatise and participate in the Paralympic qualifiers which kick-start on Wednesday, October 21.

Sadly, however, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Authority are yet to foot their bill to enable them to fly out to participate in the qualifiers.

Ten badminton coaches were last Thursday awarded certificates after participating in the just-ended Level 1 technical course organised by the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) through the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Solidarity.

The one-week course held at the GHAPOHA Sports Complex in Tema saw the Badminton World Federation (BWF) collaborating with the GOC and IOC.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the president of the Badminton Association of Ghana (BAG), Nestor Ghalley, said he believed the sport will grow in the country with the knowledge imparted to the coaches.

The president of the Ghana Weightlifting Federation (WTF), Ben Nunoo Mensah, says the current budget allocation of GH¢39 million to the Ministry of Youth and Sports is woefully inadequate.

He said the sports ministry, which is next to the Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs in terms of financial support, has a lot of agencies which rely on its resources, and that such a paltry sum was killing sports in the country.

“Unlike the tourism, communications and other ministries, the Sports Ministry does not generate any internal funds even though it has a lot of agencies like the GYEEDA, the Winneba Sports College, among others, who depend on its financial resources,” Nunoo Mensah said.

Raheem Sterling scored his first professional hat-trick for Manchester City on the day his former club Liverpool drew a blank on Jurgen Klopp’s first game in charge.

While Klopp was bemoaning an injury crisis at Anfield that saw him reduced to one senior striker for the 0-0 draw at Tottenham, Sterling and City were celebrating as they thrashed Bournemouth 5-1 to stay two points clear at the top of the English Premier League.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini said: “Sterling must improve, he is improving and I am sure this season he will score more goals than another season he played for Liverpool.”