Kick Away, Nii Ayi, others for draught Top 4

A mini tournament featuring the nation's top four draught players in March is expected to settle the unending argument over the real king of draught in Ghana.

George Afrifa, Nii Ayi, Evans Koranteng and Nii Arday will parade in a single show during the holiday and weekend of Ghana's independence anniversary on March 6, 7 and 8.

The all-play-all tournament, being facilitated by draught enthusiast, Alhaji Kasim, was the natural result of hot exchanges last Sunday after Afrifa, popularly called Kick Away, had trounced Koranteng 5-1 in a rematch of their straight contest.

Koranteng, better known as Ortega in draught circles, had stretched Kick Away in an earlier encounter when they drew six of eight games as Kick Away won by a modest 2-0 on January 2.

For a player who had trounced Nii Ayi, one-time national champion, 5-0 on December 29, Ortega seemed to have earned his place among the big boys in the game, despite losing 5-2 at least twice to Nii Ayi in subsequent games.

Indeed, current form suggests that Nii Arday, once a real challenger to the Kick Away-Nii Ayi duopoly, has slipped behind the other three.

And when Ortega lost comprehensively to Kick Away at Community 9 in Tema last Sunday, the open reference to Kick Away as the nation's best appeared to have irked the outspoken Nii Ayi who challenged that judgement by the public.

A contest between the pair as a consequence of the argument ended 1-1 after seven games, but come the holiday and weekend of Ghana's independence anniversary, the contest would likely be settled in some form.