Basketball: Sprite Ball Championship draw today

Holders of the Sprite Ball Boys title, Osu Presbyterian Boys Senior High School (PRESEC), will be without their Championship-winning starting five when they begin their defence on January 11 at the El-Wak Stadium in Accra.

Osu PRESEC has lost the likes of standout guards Prince Lumorvi and Joel Kaboayere who have graduated from the school, so they are presenting a new-look team ahead of the draw of Ghana's flagship high school basketball competition later today.

They will be joined by 11 other teams for the boys draw which is expected to produce four groups of three teams.

Other teams in the ballot are Prempeh College, Opoku Ware School, West Africa SHS, Mfantsipim School, Adisadel College, St John's School, Sekondi College, Pope John's Senior High School, Koforidua Secondary Technical School, Keta Business College and Bishop Herman College.

Meanwhile, holders of the girls title, Kumasi Girls SHS, have vowed to retain the trophy they won last year.

The Headmistress of the school, Madam Cecilia Nana Yeboah, in a promotional video for the competition, said she was confident that the seven other teams would prove no match for them.

"We are training very well. At the same time we are relaxed because we know that we are going to annex it (the cup) easily. So, other teams watch for KGEE. We are going to do it in a grand style,” she said.

The line-up for the girls draw, which will produce two groups of four teams each, include last year's losing finalists, Accra Wesley Girls, St Louis, West Africa SHS, Mfantsiman Girls, Shama SHS, Nkawkaw SHS and Mawuli SHS.

According to Rite Sports, the organisers of the Spriteball Championship, the teams will begin arriving in Accra on Wednesday, January 9, ahead of the two-day competition which will take place between January 11 to 12 at the El-Wak Stadium.