12 Teams for Africa Cup for Clubs Champs,Ghana promises successful tourney

The Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium in Accra looks set to host one of the biggest competitions in Africa with 12 teams participating in the Africa Cup for Club Championships from January 20 to 27.

The eight-day tournament involves six male and six female bhockey teams who won their respective national leagues last year pitching their strengths against each other for bragging rights as the best hockey teams in Africa.

Ghana will be represented by the male team of the Ghana Revenue Authority which won the Sapholda Hockey League last year and the runners-up, Trustees. The host teams will compete for honours alongside the defending champions, Eastern Company Hockey Club from Egypt. Another Egyptian club, El Sharkia, Niger Flickers Hockey Club who won the Nigerian league and the runners-up, Police Machine, complete the teams to vie for honours in the male division.

For the female division, Ghana will be represented by champion club Ghana Revenue Authority and runners-up Police and they face tough opposition from the title holders, Telkom Hockey Club from Kenya and compatriots, Strathmore Hockey Club. Nigerian sides KADA Queens and Yobe Desert Queens make up the other participants in what is expected to be a fierce competition.

Briefing the media in Accra last Tuesday, the President of the Ghana Hockey Association (GHA), Mr Richard Akpokavie noted that, since Ghana was awarded the right to host the prestigious tournament during the Africa Hockey Federation (AfHF) Congress held in the Egyptian city of Ismailia last November, the GHA had worked around the clock to ensure a very successful competition.

He announced that a Local Organising Committee (LOC) chaired by Mr Kwame Essah had been put in place to organise the tournament, and added that the GHA was in no doubt that the competition would be a resounding success.

For Ghana’s hockey chief, the competition offers Ghanaian clubs a fine opportunity to win the tournament for the first time on home soil, so it is important for their sponsors to support the teams with good packages to motivate them to emerge as continental champions.