The 7th Mini-Ghana Universities Sports Association (GUSA) Games which is being hosted by the University of Cape Coast has officially been opened at a colourful ceremony at the Cape Coast Stadium.

The games opened under the distinguished patronage of the Vice-Chancellor of UCC, Professor Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, with Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwesi Attah II, as the guest of honour. The competition is on the theme “University Sports, a Unifier for Post-Election Ghana”.

The competition which is organised every two years has athletes from eight public universities compete in the following disciplines; Basketball (Male), Football and Goal ball (Male and Female), Netball (female), Table Tennis (Male and Female) and Tennis (Male and Female).

Competing Universities for the Games include the University of Cape Coast (UCC), University of Ghana (UG), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University for Development Studies (UPSA). Others are the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), University for Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) and the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS).

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said the theme for the games should serve as a reminder that the peace institutions like the Universities and for that matter Ghanaians were enjoying should be paramount in all our endeavours.  “This same peace is expected to manifest in the various disciplines for all to emulate”, he admonished the team players and officials.

The Vice-Chancellor noted that a good student should be able to excel in both academics and sports, adding that “all the sports women and men here are potential best students in your various institutions because you are combining sports and academics”. He urged the students from the eight institutions to use the opportunity to interact and exchange ideas that could earn them success in their future endeavours. He further told them to demonstrate unity in the games because “we all belong to the same constituency and this constituency is not our respective universities but Ghana as a whole.

Prof. Ampiah commended the entire student body, especially the Local Organising Committee (LOC), for working very hard to ensure the successful organisation of the games despite the short notice and also expressed gratitude to the Sports Council for releasing the New Cape Coast Stadium for the games. He wished all the competing universities success in the games.

The President of GUSA, Prof. Joseph Oga, thanked UCC for hosting the 7th Mini-GUSA and also facilitating the securing the New Cape Coat Stadium for the games. He said the Mini-GUSA games were instituted to engage students in the off year of the biannual GUSA games and for the selection of athletes to represent Ghana in the World University Games.

Prof. Oga noted that athletes who excelled in the games would be selected to join the Ghana team for the 2017 World University Games to be held at Chinese Taipei in Taiwan form August 19th to 30th, 2017.He commended the eight universities for participating in the event and wished them success.

The Guest of honour for the occasion, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, performed the first kick for the official opening of the games. UCC Women Soccer team defeated their counterparts in UG by two goals to nil in the opening match during the ceremony.