Warriors win maiden MTN Skate Soccer league

Ashanti Warriors, a physically challenged skate soccer team, became the first side to win the maiden MTN Skate Soccer League with a 3-2 victory over rivals, Accra Giants, in the final.

Warriors combined speed and resilience to take an early 2-0 lead in the 50 minutes game forcing Accra Giants to the back foot.

The one-day league was played under the auspices of the International Federation of Skate Soccer.

Sani Gariba, who was named the best player of the competition, rallied his teammates to pull one goal back through an individual effort at the start of the second half.

However, Mohammed Bello converted a spot kick to add to earlier goals by Jibril Dawud and Benjamin Abubakar to make it 3-1 for Warriors before Mallam Ahmed scored Giants’ second goal.

Per the arrangements, Ashanti Warriors will await the winner in the next round of the competition scheduled for Accra to engage in a Champion of Champions clash in July.

On their way to the final, Warriors thrashed Western Tigers 5-1, while Accra Giants accounted for Zongo Lions in the match played on a 20 by 40 pitch size.

The chief executive of the International Federation for Skate Soccer, Mr Albert Frimpong, said talks were ongoing with sponsors, MTN, to expand the league format to cover the entire country.

The SWAG award winner said the idea of introducing the sport to the world was to discourage begging for alms by the physically challenged and to make them relevant to the society and economically reliant.