PUSAG GAMES OPENS

      The Private Universities Association of Ghana, PUSAG, 8^th annual Games and Entertainment Festival has opened at the Paa Joe Stadium at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. The three-day event, which is being participated by 20 private university Colleges from all parts of the country, is on the theme: “Shifting the Paradigm towards Tertiary Sports Development”. The participants will be competing in soccer, handball, volleyball, basketball, Table Tennis and field events in both men and women categories. In the first female Volleyball match, Valley View University defeated Pentecost University College, while in the first Basketball game, Pentecost University beat Regent University College by 15 to 14 goals. In the football matches, while Christian Service University College beat Garden City University College both in Kumasi, by two goals to one, Ghana Baptist University College in Kumasi eliminated their colleagues from Zenith University College from Accra by five-four through penalty kicks. Addressing the participants in the opening ceremony, the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Director, Lawyer Kofi Dwomoh Asubonteng emphasized the crucial role being played by private universities, especially in creating the opportunity for qualified people who could not gain admission to the public tertiary institutions to attain higher academic qualifications. Similarly, the private sector has provided the room for many more workers to also pursue tertiary education to improve their academic and professional statuses, a venture that the government alone could not have provided.  The Regional Coordinating Director noted again that PUSAG’s games can also create the platform for students with unnoticed talents to be unearthed for the good of the nation. The National President of PUSAG, Mohammed Adams Sukparu, noted that the dwindling interest in schools’ sports programmes in the curricular in recent years is creating a huge talent gap for the national teams. He mentioned the likes of Ben Koufie, Leo Myles Mills, Eric Nkansah and Asamoah Gyan as some of the sporting talents that were unearthed through school sports and games. Mr. Sukparu explained therefore that the annual PUSAG games aim to bring out the best sporting talents in students of member institutions, while promoting the spirit of sportsmanship, team work, cooperation, leadership, loyalty and friendship in the students.