Mighty Lovers of Asokwa lift AYA challenge cup

Kumasi, May 24, GNA - A well drilled Mighty Lovers Youth Club of Asokwa West in the Kumasi Metropolis beat Love and Understanding Youth Club of Bantama 1-0 in the finals of a gala competition to lift the African Youth Alliance (AYA) challenge cup in Kumasi on Sunday. Zito Nyantakyi of Lovers Youth Club scored the only goal of the match from a corner kick in the dying minutes of the game.

The gala competition organised by AYA, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), formed part of a project jointly undertaking with the National Youth Council (NYC) to reach out to the youth to enlighten them on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) through the medium of soccer.

Twenty youth clubs drawn from the five constituencies in the Ashanti Region competed in the gala.

The competition was however nearly marred by an incident when supporters of Mighty Lovers invaded the pitch to protest against a penalty awarded against the team and chased one of the assistant referees to vent their spleen on him.

In the process, police from the Zongo police station and Nana Baffour Kyei, Asemhene had to come in to save the situation for sanity to prevail and when order was restored, "Junior Parliament" of Subin converted the kick.

Mighty Lovers from then on lifted their game and in the second half they rightly scored three rapid goals to qualify for the finals while Love and Understanding beat Asawasi Clubs Union 3-1 on penalties to qualify for the finals.

Mighty Lovers, Love and Understanding, Junior Parliament of Subin, Asawasi Clubs Union of Asokwa East and Amana Youth Club of Manhyia who reached the semi-finals of the gala were each given a set of jerseys and football.

Speaking after the competition, Mr Joe Mantey, National Co-ordinator of NYC, expressed satisfaction that so far about 70 percent out of the targeted 240,000 youth had been sensitised on HIV/AIDS.

Mr Mantey advised the youth to always engage in sporting activities in order to remain healthy and disciplined at all times and to desist from engaging in anti-social activities.