Cape Vars, UDS Show Class At X-Country Games

By Nana Bentsi Oduro

THE University of Cape Coast (UCC) and the University of Development Studies (UDS) once again confirmed their superiority at the 23rd edition of the Ghana Universities Sports Association (GUSA) Cross-Country games hosted at the University of Professional Studies (UPS) on Saturday.

Both universities successfully defended the race they won last year in the male and female categories of the keenly-contested 10km race.

In the male race, defending champion Malik Abubakar of UCC came out tops making a time of 31 mins 53 secs - his personal best after two previous wins. His close competitor Raja Lagbla of University of Ghana (UG) came second with a time of 32 mins 4secs; Matthew Nantiere of UCC grabbed the third position - finishing with a time of 32mins 41secs.

In the female race, 2018 Millennium Marathon winner Elizabeth Azure of UDS made light work of the female race, emerging the winner by a landslide.

Azure made the time of 35 mins 40secs with her closest contender Rita kyira of UCC coming in at second position with 38mins 53 secs, whiles Fatima Samuel also from UDS clinched third spot.

The event featured eight universities across the country including University of Ghana (UG), University of Cape Coast (UCC), University of Education (UEW), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), University of Energy, and the University of Development Studies (UDS)

Overall, the Malik-inspired UCC team nicked the male race - garnering a total of 40 points. UG followed in second spot amassing a total of 67 points, whilst University of Education (UEW) secured the third position with 97 points gained.

In the female category, the Elizabeth Azure-led UDS team were declared winners after accumulating 43 points, whilst UCC and UEW grabbed second and third spots with 46 and 130 points respectively.

Excelling athletes were awarded certificates and cash prizes.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Special Guest of Honour, Vice- Chancellor of UPSA Prof. Okoe Amartey, encouraged students not to only focus on the cognitive side of their development in the university, but also adopt sports as a way of building their physical and healthy side.

He charged the athletes to keep training hard with their sights set on claiming glory for Ghana at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The GUSA cross-country marathon is aimed at unearthing potential athletes to represent GUSA at any pending Federation of African Sports games (FASU Games) and International University Sports Federation games (FISU Games) as well as unearthing talented athletes for the national side.

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