Oda District tops in E/R U-15 Schools Festival

THIS year?s Eastern Regional Under-15 Basic Schools Sports Festival has ended at Abetifi- Kwahu, with Oda District emerging tops at the end of the week-long festival.

They swept three gold medals and a silver to retain the girls? volleyball, girls athletics and girls table tennis trophies.

They were followed by the host district, Mpraeso, which won two gold medals in the boys? soccer and boys? athletics.

The third position went to the New Juaben District, with a gold in the boys table tennis, three silver medals in netball, girls? volleyball and boys? athletics, adding a bronze in the girls? table tennis.

Other districts which performed creditably were Asuogyaman District, Manya and Suhum which notwithstanding their overall positions of fourth, fifth and sixth, received thumbs up for their spectacular output in some of the events.

In all, 23 medals, made up of eight gold, seven silver and six bronze, were won by the 15 districts in the region who took part in the well-organised sports fiesta.

For the overall best behaved district, the organisers, who where made up of Physical Education organisers drawn from all parts of the region decided on the New Abirem for comporting themselves throughout the festival.

With the high level of skills and standards exhibited by the participants at the games, the selection committees had it very tough selecting teams for the various disciplines in the region to prepare for the national festival to be held in the Ashanti Region soon.

In her closing address, the Eastern Regional Director of Education, Rev Ama Afo Blay, called on parents and guardians to invest more in the education of their children and wards to make them responsible individuals who will contribute to nation-building.

She also advised parents to feed their children well in order to ensure their healthy growth.

Rev. Afo Blay took the opportunity to caution the children about HIV/AIDS and advised them to abstain from sex in order not to contract the scourge and asked them to study very hard to make it up the academic ladder.

On his part, the Chairman of the Eastern Regional Basic Schools Sports Association, Mr C. L. Twumasi Ankrah, expressed his gratitude to the organisers and all who assisted in diverse ways to make the festival a success.

There was a call at the end on public authorities, schools and appropriate private agencies at all levels to join forces and plan together to provide logistics to ensure that the right structures are in place for the total development of sports in the region and in the nation at large.

A donation of ?200,000 was made by the Adontenhene of the Kwahu Traditional Area for the purchase of the trophy to be competed for at the next festival.