Officials and athletes at the Sports Directorate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) earlier on Friday departed to Accra for the 26th edition of the Ghana University Sports Association (GUSA) Games.
A 292-man contingent consisting of 250 athletes and 42 officials have been granted permission by the school to participate in this year’s games that began on 3rd January 2020 and is expected to end on 19th January 2020.
The Inter-University competition, under the distinguished patronage of Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, Vice-Chancellor of University of Ghana is themed “Integrating Sport into Academia for Youth Empowerment and Development.”
The Inter-University Olympic Games will see, Eleven (11) institutions compete for laurels for the first time. The participating schools are, the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Cape Coast, University of Education, Winneba, University for Development Studies, University of Mines and Technology, University of Professional Studies, University of Energy and Natural Resources and the University of Health and Allied Sciences. Noteworthy, the new entrants at this year’s competition are the Ghana Institute of Journalism and Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.
KNUST missed out on the last edition (mini GUSA) that was held at UCC in 2019 following a change of their academic calendar that affected the sports calendar after the famous impasse that hit the University. The athletes, who have been undergoing vigorous training for the past few weeks have expressed optimism as they seek to stage a strong return at the University Games
KNUST will be participating in a total of 11 disciplines at the Legon 2020 Games. The disciplines are; Football, Basketball, Tennis, Table Tennis, Beach Volleyball, Volleyball, Handball, Athletics, Badminton, Hockey, and Netball. In all, the University is presenting athletes for both male and female divisions.
The hockey team remains one of the medal hopefuls ahead of the tournament. After winning gold in both male and female divisions in this discipline at Winneba 2016, the team failed to defend the title two years ago at UDS but clinched Silver in the men’s division and placed 4th in the female division.
The soccer team that won a gold medal at the 2017 mini GUSA in UCC is expected to stage a keen competition in the battle of supremacy against the defending champions UDS, the likes of UG and UCC.
An opening ceremony will be held on Monday 6th January 2020 at the University of Ghana Main Field at exactly 1 pm. The ceremony will be followed by a football match between the host University of Ghana and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.
