UEW hosts 24th Gusa games

The Ghana University Sports Association (GUSA) is an Association of eight (8) public universities namely: University of Ghana (UG); Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST); University of Cape Coast (UCC); University of Education, Winneba (UEW); University for Development Studies (UDS); University of Mines and Technology (UMaT); University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA); and University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR). The Association seeks to promote sports and physical fitness among university students in Ghana. GUSA achieves this objective by organizing sporting competitions at the national level and participating in international university games. At the local level, GUSA organizes GUSA Games, Mini-GUSA Games and Inter-university Cross-Country Competitions.At the international level GUSA participates in competitions organized by its affiliate institutions namely: the West African University Games (WAUG);the Federation of African University Sports (FASU);and the Federation of International University Sports (FISU). GUSA is looking forward to organizing regional/international competitions.

The 24^th edition of GUSA Games was hosted by the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) from the 4^th-16^th January 2016. The theme for the games was “Developing And Sustaining Sporting Talents for Ghana”. A total of 1,285 sportsmen and women from 8 Universities competed in 11 sporting disciplines namely: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Goalball, Handball, Hockey, Netball, Football, Table Tennis, Tennis and Volleyball. Beach volleyball was played as a demonstrational sport and this means that it most likely to be considered as one of the disciplines for the next GUSA Games. As part of the Games rules, sportsmen and women were taken through an accreditation process on the 5^th of January to determine their eligibility prior to the commencement of the competition.

The competition started in the morning of 6^th January 2016, followed by the Opening Ceremony in the afternoon. Dignitaries present at the Ceremony included the Minister of Education, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Education (UEW), the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana (UG), the President and Executive Committee Members of GUSA, the Municipal Chief Executive of Efutu Municipal Assembly, the Member of Parliament for Efutu Area, Faculty Members and Management Staff of member institutions of GUSA. In her keynote address, the Minister of Education Mrs. Jane NaanaOpoku-Agyeman commended GUSA for sustaining the relationship and cordial ties between institutions of higher learning in Ghana through sports. She emphasized the Government of Ghana’s commitment to the development of Sports at the tertiary level in view of the contribution of Sports to the development of the youth. She commended GUSA for including Goalball in the sporting disciplines which made it possible for students with visual impairment to participate in the Games.  She concluded by acknowledging the Executives of GUSA and members of the Local Organizing Committee for successfully organizing the 24^th GUSA Games. The Ceremony was climaxed with a men’s football match between the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) and University of Education (UEW). UEW won by 3-0.

The competitions, which started in earnest on 6^th January ended on 15^th January 2016.

Summaries of results are presented in the Tables 1 and 2 below:

Table1. Winners in Various Disciplines

Table 2. Medal Table

One record was broken in Athletics by Mr. Martin Owusu-Antwi of KNUST , who won the men’s 200m race in a time of 21:07secs as against 21:35secs set by Emmanuel AppiahKubi of UCC in 2014. Mr. Samini Salifu from KNUST was adjudged the Goal King in the Soccer competition. 

The Closing Ceremony was held on the 15^th of January 2016. A key activity of the Ceremony is the lowering of the Games Flag which was done by the Registrar of UEW. The flag was handed over to the Registrar of UDS to symbolize UDS as the host of the 25^th GUSA Games in 2018 at Tamale.