Accra, Aug. 28, — A record 1,700 athletes and 300 officials will participate in this year’s national sports festival which opens in Kumasi from September 6 to 13. The theme for the week-long festival is “National Unity Through Sports”, Dr Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, Deputy Chief Sports Development Officer of the National Sports Council (NSC), said today. He told the GNA in an interview in Accra today, that the Ghana Immigration Service will take part for the first time. Other participants are to be drawn from all the 10 regions, the Ghana Armed Forces, the Police, the Prisons Service, the Fire Service, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, and the Ghana University Sports Association (GUSA). The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is the games village. It will also be the venue for athletics, basketball, boxing, handball, hockey, netball, table tennis, and volleyball. Mr Owusu-Ansah said Badminton and Taekwondo would take place at the Kumasi Technical Institute while the under-15 soccer matches would be played at various centres including the Kumasi Sports Stadium, KNUST and the Jackson park. Judo, karate and bodybuilding/weightlifting will feature at the festival as demonstration sports. Mr Dawson Amoah, chairman of the festival sponsorship committee, said some companies– Coca Cola, D and C Industries, Ghabico Limited, Astek Food Processing Company, A-Life Supermarket, Ravico Distilleries, Kasapreko Distilleries, Gihoc Distilleries, Kumesh Cold Store, Afariwa Farms, Mrs Brenya Fisheries and Ghana Tuna Fisheries– have made donations. Donations are also expected from Guinness (Gh) Limited, Kumasi Brewery Limited, Darko Farms, Cool Bottling and Kumasi Abattoir Association.
