Twenty-five tennis players and four coaches have embarked on a two-week residential camping at the Winneba Sports College in the Central Region.

The camp, initiated by the Ghana Tennis Federation and sponsored by the McDan Group of Companies, serves as part of preparation for the national junior boys team as they get ready to represent West Africa in the Africa Juniors Competition to be staged in Morocco from September 9 to 17.

Travelling agency, Africa World Airlines, has donated tickets to three players of the national table tennis team, the Black Loopers, to ensure their participation in the Lagos International Open slated for Lagos, Nigeria, from today, August 9 to August 13.

The airline presented three tickets to Beatrice Gyasi of the Ghana Police, and the Ghana Immigration Service duo of Felix Lartey and Emmanuel Commey at a short ceremony in Accra yesterday.

Deputy captain of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Eric Donkor, says their quest to win this year’s Ghana Premier League title is not over  despite their current fourth position on the league table.

Last Sunday, Kotoko were unable to move up the log after being held to a 1-1 draw by their arch-rival  Hearts of Oak at the Baba Yara Stadium, making their title aspiration a difficult task  given the effort of the teams ahead of them on the log.

Former African football head Issa Hayatou has hit out at comments made by his successor, Ahmad, about Cameroon's readiness to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Ahmad, who replaced Hayatou as Confederation of African Football (Caf) president in March, said on Saturday that Cameroon 'will have to work to convince Caf of its ability to host.'

The founder of Konongo-based Owerriman Football Club, Nana Batafo Acheampong Nti, has appealed to the Sports Ministry to rehabilitate the Konongo Stadium to motivate the youth in the municipality to continue nurturing and developing their potential in football.

He said the stadium, which he single-handedly constructed almost two decades ago, has now deteriorated, making it impossible for the well-endowed youth to nurture and develop their football potential.

In response to the national sports festival, this year’s Greater Accra Taekwondo Championships would be the platform for the selection of Greater Accra Taekwondo representatives to the festival slated for August 31st to September 7 in Kumasi.

Suspended Black Stars midfielder Sulley Muntari has denied slapping a referee during a friendly match last week in Accra.

Muntari stands accused by Accra-based referee John Terry of dishing-out a slap to him after he handed the former Portsmouth midfielder a yellow card during a friendly game between Laryea Kingston XI and Muntari XI.

The preparations of Ghana’s female Under-20 team, the Black Princesses, towards their 2018 Women’s World Cup (WWC) qualifiers could be greatly hampered as they may not be able to begin early camping due to lack of funds.

The Princesses begin the qualifiers away to Algeria in September, and new head coach, Yusif Basigi, has invited 30 players to begin the initial camping at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram today, but reports the Graphic Sports has picked is that it has been called off following the caterer’s insistence that she would not cater for them if funds were not made available.

Ahead of his much touted bout against heavyweight brawler Braimah Kamoko alias Bukom Banku on September 30 at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra, heavyweight fighter Bastie Samir and colleague boxers held a public training exercise in Accra last Saturday.

The training and shadow-boxing exercise held at the old UTC building adjacent Rawlings Park, drew a large number of onlookers and traders to the scene.

Maxwell Konadu, the assistant coach of Ghana’s Black Stars B, says the team will not undertake or take Burkina Faso for granted, when they clash in Ouagadougou on Saturday.

The Stars will be the guests of the Burkinabes in their Championship of African Nations (CHAN) qualifier and the Ghanaians are wary of the threat their hosts pose and are thus being cautious, despite being optimistic of their chances.

Maxwell Konadu who has handled the team for a greater part of their preparations due to other assignments of head coach, Kwasi Appiah, told the Graphic Sports that they have prepared well for the game and are hopeful of their chances.

“Technically, our preparations have been very good. I think we have made steady progress and we are hopeful of our chances, but that is no reason why we should be complacent or over-confident. The Burkinabes are a good side and they definitely would want to take advantage of them playing at home,” Konadu said.

“Ghana mis

The effort of the Ghana Armwresting Federation to popularise the sport seem to be paying off as the latest competition held at the homecoming of the Accra Academy Old Students drew an impressive participation.

Though it was on a non-scoring basis, the fact that most of the old boys also registed for the competition, helped the GAF achieve its target.

Clearly, we are now entering that very last interesting and competitive part of the season, where many matches will take on extra importance.

This is because of promotion, relegation or participation in continental cup competitions and even our Top Four tournament.

As usual, this is also the time when our referee managers take crucial decisions in respect of referee promotions and retention at all levels on the feared Referees Lists, including even FIFA.

There is, therefore, an added pressure on referees and other match officials. More scrutiny than ever before will be on our league referees as they go out to handle matches throughout the country. Perhaps the greatest pressure will be on the committee of the referee managers who have the sole assignment of appointing match officials.

Already, there are too many rumours and allegations of a few referees following some particular teams. As we have as many as 40 referees on the referees list, this coul

Sprinter Janet Amponsah carries the heavy burden of Ghana’s hope as she goes into action tomorrow, in the women’s 200m heats at the Athletics World Championships ongoing in London.

Amponsah remains the only man individual athlete out of the eight-team delegation Ghana has at the London Games, after teammates, Nadia Eke, Emmanuel Dasor and Alex Amankwah all failed to make it past their heats. The other four will be competing in the women’s relay event.

Visiting Accra Hearts of Oak defied an off the pitch heckle to hold arch rivals, Kumasi Asante Kotoko, 1-1 in their 23rd week outstanding Premier League match at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi on Sunday.

Arguably the best player on the day, Winful Cobbina, delivered an impeccable through pass for lurking Kwame Kizito to finished off in the 60th minute in a thrilling encounter watched by a packed stadium.

The wait is finally over, with two of the country’s glamorous clubs, Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak, literally shaking the foundation of the Baba Yara Stadium when the two come face to face in their much anticipated Ghana Premier League (GPL) fixture.