Soccer News of Thursday, 1 November 2007

Source: Daily Guide/GFA

Ohene Djan & Baba Yara Not Ready?

... Meteors To Re-Open Ohene Djan
From all indications today’s official handing over of the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium in Accra and the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi may not come on as expected.

Investigations conducted by DAILY GUIDE SPORTS indicate that works on the inside arena are already completed but there are some finishing touches to be done by the Italian Construction firm working at the venue in Accra and that may cause delays in the handing over.

A source close to the National Sports Council (NSC) revealed that the normal procedure is that a letter should be written to the NSC by the contractors before the handing over of any stadium under construction in connection with the Ghana CAN 2008.

The source said among the four stadia under construction, only the Kumasi venue contractors have asked for four weeks extension date before handing over, while contractors in Tamale are about to finish work outside the stadium.

“There would be a site meeting between officials of the NSC and the contractors at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium today, regarding the handing over of the stadium,” the source added.

However, Mr. Castagna, the engineer of Michelletti Company, contractors working at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium, in a chat with DAILY GUIDE SPORTS, promised that his outfit would handover the stadium keys today after a ceremonial game at the venue involving the National Sports Council personnel and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.

Meteors To Re-Open Ohene Djan

The Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra, one of the venues for next year’s African Cup of Nations would be opened for competitive match action, 24-hours before the scheduled re-opening date.

The Ohene Djan stadium has remained closed since December 2005 for construction works ahead of the African Cup of Nations.

Ghana’s Olympic team, the Black Meteors would open up the grounds since its completion for their final game in the African Olympic qualifying campaign against Nigeria on Friday, November 16.

The Black Meteors were initially billed to play the Nigerians in the last match at the El-Wak stadium.

FA member, Randy Abbey has confirmed that Black Meteors would play their final match at the grounds before the stadium hosts Ghana’s four-nation tournament which kicks off a day after the Olympic qualifying match.

Ghana welcomes Benin, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates to the Ohene Djan Stadium for the competition which begins on November 17 and runs to November 21.