League champions Ashantigold yesterday presented two trophies they won this season to Sir Sam Jonah, a former board chairman of the club, at an emotional ceremony in Accra.

The brief ceremony held at the Achimota Golf Club for the first time brought together some of the old executive members of the club, including Captain Andy Sam (retd), former CEO, and John Alexander Ackon, Deputy Minister of Women, Children and Social Protection and a former board member of the club.

Ghana will play the first leg of their 2018 FIFA World Cup (Preliminary Competition African Zone) qualifying match against Comoros on Friday, November 13.

The match has been scheduled for the Stade Said Mohamed Cheikh in Moroni at 15:00 p.m. local time.

The second leg will be played in Ghana on November 17.

Teshie Peniel (Salem) Presby Men’s Fellowship, led by Bro. Francis Boye Laryea, last Saturday bagged 17 points in the various disciplines to win this year’s Teshie District Presby Men’s Fellowship games held at the Teshie Camp 2 School grounds.

At the end, Aboma Presby Men’s Fellowship led by Bro. Michael Armah came second with ten points while Grace Presby Men’s Fellowship, led by Bro. Eward Neequaye came third with 9 points.

A Board member of Accra Hearts of Oak, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has described as “a sham”, the ruling last Tuesday by the GFA Appeals Committee to overturn an earlier verdict by the FA’s Disciplinary Committee to dock six points from Kumasi Asante Kotoko for fielding an unqualified player during their Premier League clash with Hearts in Accra.

The restoration of Kotoko’s six points resulted in positional changes on the league table as Kotoko jumped to the second spot behind champions AshantiGold while Hearts dropped from the fourth to the 13th spot on the log.

The GSP Basketball League reaches its mid-way stage on Saturday in Sunyani with eight clubs looking to lay a claim to the title.

This weekend’s sixth week games will be held at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) and Sunyani Polytechnic basketball courts.

Competing clubs are Catholic University Saints, UENR, West Siders, Desert Rabbits, Sunyani Poly, Suncity Braves, Barracks Scorpions, and Lir Royals.

Ghana’s home-based Black Stars have stepped up their preparation for the return encounter of the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) qualifier in Abidjan, after surviving an early scare to defeat their Ivorian counterparts 2-1 at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi last Sunday.

Two goals by Joel Fameyeh of Asokwa Deportivo, one in each half, saved the blushes of Maxwell Konadu’s charges, but the coach told the Daily Graphic he was still satisfied with the results even though he had wished for a 3-0 win to cushion the team for the return leg encounter.

Kumasi Asante Kotoko made a significant leap from sixth to second to restore joy among their faithful fans, pushing sworn-rivals Accra Hearts of Oak deep down from fourth to the 13th position after winning an appeal in respect of player Obed Owusu.

This was after the Appeals Committee of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) had upheld Kotoko’s appeal against an earlier ruling by the Disciplinary Committee on September 1.  

 The Appeals Committee, chaired by its vice chairman Alhaji Farouk Seidu, stated: “Having considered the various definitions ascribed to official matches we cannot but conclude that the Elite Clubs Cup Competition matches are for all intents and purposes official matches of the FA.’

Accra Hearts of Oak’s hope of landing Swedish Coach Tom Strand appears to have been blocked by Medeama FC who look unwilling to release the coach in spite of reports linking him to the Phobians.

In fact, indications were that Strand, who guided Medeama to win the MTN FA Cup a few weeks ago, was close to taking over the Phobians in a technical shakeup that would see former Hearts and Black  Stars winger Yaw ‘Rush’ Preko returning to his former club as assistant coach.

Preko told the Graphic Sports yesterday that he was excited at the prospects of returning to his mother club in a technical capacity but was still in talks with the Hearts management and had not signed any deal yet.

Aduana Stars have made a big splash in the player transfer market after grabbing two former Kumasi Asante Kotoko top stars Richard Mpong and Yahya Mohammed, among some other notable stars, ahead of the coming season.

The Dormaa-Ahenkro side finished in third place (after the restoration of Kotoko’s six points on appeal) in the First Capital Plus Plus Premier League and are strengthening their squad ahead of the next football season.

Mr Kurt Edwin Simon Okraku is one of the newest administrators elected to the influential Ghana Football Association (GFA) Executive Committee, a position he said he clinched by dint of hard work and sound campaign message.

The ambitious administrator, who is also the vice chairman of the MTN FA cup committee, is enjoying positive review from the Ghanaian populace for his efforts in development of football in the last four years and many football fans have tipped him to be appointed the next vice president of the GFA.

 A team of four tennis players, made up of George Darko, Wisdom NA-Adjrago, Japheth Bagerbaseh and Pascal Ziyab Alome ,  flew to  Morocco  last Monday for a two-week training tour.

The tour, sponsored by McDan Group of Companies, is expected to improve the skills of the players for them to compete favourably during international tournaments.

Ghanaian international, Mahatma Otoo, over the weekend returned Sogndal to the Norwegian top flight football after he powered a brace in his side’s 5-2 win over Hoenefoss.

The result sealed qualification for Sogndal with three games to spare and the former Hearts of Oak skipper gave a good account of himself as he was rated as the best performer by the media after the game.

Otoo was on target in the 42nd minute after Babacar Sarr had shot Sogndal into the lead in the 18th minute before Fitim Kastrati drew level for Hoenefoss a minute later.

MTN FA Cup champions, Medeama SC, have signed a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabian side Al-Wahda to promote a special exchange programme which includes exchange of coaches and business expertise.

The deal, signed at the Alisa Hotel in Accra on October 11, will see the Saudi Arabian club offering practical support for youth coaching, player development and expertise on fitness and medical matters.

It also entails the construction of a stadium and an academy at Dompim, the birth place of Medeama SC, to help in the development of youthful players.

Ghana's Under-20 female football team, the Black Princesses will travel to Adis Ababa this week to face their Ethiopian counterparts in the final round of the 2016 Women's World Cup (WWC) qualifiers.

While the Princesses beat Equatorial Guinea 3-0 on aggregate to reach this point, Ethiopia advanced at the expense of Burkina Faso on a 2-0 aggregate.

The Princesses leave for Adis Ababa tomorrow, hoping to put up a splendid performance to get a result that will ease the pressure when they host the second and final leg in two weeks for the Papua New Guinea 2016 tournament.

Two European scouts are in the country to scout for players for the European market at the invitation of Bechem United.

Nicolas Onisse and Marc Van Osselaer from France and Belgium respectively are expected to scout players in the Under-18 and Under-23 categories.

The team began work in Accra last Sunday and Monday when players were screened and a number of them picked for further screening.

Kingsley Owusu Achau, CEO of Bechem United, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said the scouts were impressed with the performance of some of the players after the last exercise for the Under-20 division yesterday.

The scouts are expected to move to Bechem for the northern sector scouting from tomorrow to Friday.

The two scouts had the privilege of watching players from the Unistar, Attram, Awudu Issaka and Emmanuel FC academies.