Daily Heritage December 5

DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
Sports
DAILY HERITAGE TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2017
All is set for Friday’s taekwondo
championship – PRO
BY ROLAND BROWN TAMAKLOE
THE PUBLIC Relations Officer
(PRO) of the Ghana Taekwondo
Federation (GTF), Mr Adnan
Lamptey, has said that the upcoming
championship at the Accra
Sports Stadium will be used to rank the athletes
who would participate in it.
Mr Lamptey told the DAILY HER-
ITAGE in Accra yesterday that the ninth edition
of the two-day Korea Cup Taekwondo
Championship, which takes place on Friday,
December 8 and Saturday, December 9, 2017,
would also be used to select the best fighters
for the national team.
He said the championship is in two categories,
namely the senior’s weight division and
the Para division meant for adults.
“Though the federation does not encourage
the participation of foreign athletes in this
championship, we would not prevent them
from participating.
“Preparations for the championship are
going on smoothly according to plan. The electronic
gears would be used in the championship
this year to help reduce the risk of injuries.
“The electronic gears would make it easier
for any kind of dangerous play to be detected
by the officials. Mr Lamptey said he was looking
forward to a successful event,” he said.
The PRO said the championship is sponsored
by the Embassy of the Republic of
Korea and will mark the 40th anniversary of
the friendship between Ghana and Korea.
Decker Engineering to
begin earthworks on
GOC OlympAfrica site
DECKER ENGINEERING
and Construction Limited has
agreed to begin earthworks on
the Ghana Olympic Committee
(GOC) site at Amasaman for
Ghana’s OlympAfrica Centre.
The said land was acquired
almost a decade ago for the
project but all that was done on
it was a wall built around it to
deter encroachers from invading
the land.
After that the land has been
left unattended to but after assumption
of office, the GOC
President, Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah,
expressed interest in working
on the site.
The company, which is
owned by the GOC President
together with his partners,
would undertake the project
which is valued at
GH¢25,000.00 for free.
According to the company,
they would clear and level the
land to pave the way for the real
work to begin.
The GOC President has indicated
that the first phase of
the project would be an office
complex which will house the
administrative part of the centre
and would comprise offices,
a kitchen and a conference
room.
He said the next phase
would be about five multi-purpose
pitches plus an Olympicsize
football field with tartan
tracks. Then a hostel facility
would be added in the next
phase to cater for the various
national teams.
Nunoo Mensah said the Association
of National Olympic
Committees of Africa
(ANOCA) had agreed to give
the GOC $150,000 to begin the
work on the site.
He, however, added that
ANOCA had granted them permission
to solicit funds from
corporate bodies to support the
project and in return get a naming
right for whichever project
they supported.
He added that they were
currently in talks with
Ghana National Petroleum
Corporation
and Dangote Cement
and called
on corporate
Ghana to
come on
board for
the realisation
of
the
dream
of having
the
Ghana OlympAfrica
Centre.
A few weeks ago,
the GOC leadership
toured Togo’s facility
at the invitation of
Allasane T. Diake.
I felt like hurting
Neymar — Lienard
STRASBOURG MIDFIELDER Dimitri
Lienard has admitted he felt like
"hurting" Paris Saint-Germain's (PSG’s)
Neymar during Saturday’s shock 2-1
win over PSG, the Ligue 1 leaders.
The 29-year-old, who has fought his
way up from the third tier of French
football with Strasbourg, teed up Nuno
Da Costa's assist for the opener and
said Neymar's behaviour angered him
when the pair clashed.
"He [Neymar] was a bit annoyed --
he knew very well that it was a foul,"
Lienard told RMC Sport.
"He told me 'you dived, you dived.'
I wanted to tell him 'my dear, of
course, you are a star and, of course,
you can do to us what you like but
when you are dancing in front of me,
my only desire is to hurt you.’
"However, it is also the
same when you do it
and get touched a little,
you also expect
it. It is part of the
game -- it is football.
There was
nothing nasty.
There was a good
mentality on the
pitch."
Lienard was ecstatic
to have
come out
on top
against the
likes of
Neymar,
Edinson Cavani
and
Kylian
Mbappe.
"The emotion
is huge," he
told Goal. "To
come from
where I
have
come
from
to
play
against
Neymar or against
all of these stars,
such as Cavani
and Mbappe -- it
has all happened so fast.
"It is really fabulous to have been
able to beat them. They are going to go
to the World Cup and maybe even become
European champions. The emotions
are tremendous.
"There is magic in football and that
is that simply putting names on a piece
of paper does not win a match. I am
delighted and pleased to have beaten
PSG."
Lienard did his best to play up the
significance of the surprise result, insisting
that Strasbourg never expected
to take all three points.
"Of course, it is an achievement."
Lienard told Le Equipe. "They are unbeaten
since when? This is a big moment,
right?
"It is a feat and it is wonderful for
us players to have beaten PSG but
mainly to pick up three more points in
Ligue 1.
"We never expected to take all three
points against PSG but we have our
feet on the ground and never play
games to lose. However, when you are
up against PSG, it is another galaxy.
"I do not know if I have come back
down to earth yet but we are going to
enjoy this. I have stars in my eyes this
evening. I am like a kid."
Strasbourg coach Thierry Laurey
was pleased with the result and acknowledged
that his players got lucky
at times.
"We played well," Laurey said. "We
had a bit of luck, we have to acknowledge
that. It was a close-run thing. To
beat such a team, all the stars have to
align and you have to surpass your limits.
"We were clinical, even if on two or
three counter-attacks, we could have
done better. We dug in and we made
sure that we didn't do any old thing
with or without the ball.
"The boys played great. They battled
like lions, I'm very proud to be the
coach of that team. If we don't get carried
away, we can think about staying
up. Not because we have beaten Paris,
but because we're improving."
PSG will have the chance to exact
some revenge on Strasbourg next week
when they return to Stade de la Meinau
in the Coupe de la Ligue. kwesesports