With three regions done and dusted in the 2010 Sprite Ball Championship, the centre of attraction this weekend will be in the Eastern regional capital of Koforidua where over fifteen (15) schools have confirmed their participation in the most prestigious basketball championship among second cycle institutions in Ghana.
The Koforidua Secondary Technical School (KSTS) will be the venue for what is expected to be other explosive, nerve-racking and eye-catching performances from the various teams as the various teams trim the rough edges ahead of the one-day championship on Saturday November 13, 2010.
Defending champions in the boys division, Akosombo International School (AIS) will face stiff competition this time around from last year’s bridesmaid Pope Johns Senior High (Pojoss) and host KSTS.
There are also the huge threat pose by the likes of 2008 champions Suhum Secondary Technical School (Sutesco), St Peters Senior High, St Paul Technical, Abuakwa State College (Abusco) and Oda Senior High among others.
Pojoss especially will have revenge on their minds after they lost the final in a nail-biting 11-10 contest last year. The court has been duly prepared with great artisan craft to serve as an epitome for a gruelling encounter.
Checks by basketballghana.com indicates most of the schools have been engaging themselves in series of low profile friendlies as the race to grab one of the four tickets available in both the male and female category gathers momentum or reaches fever pitch.
In the girl’s category, new entrants Nkawkaw Senior High (NKWAWSEC) surprised the teaming fans when they outplayed and outclassed their contenders to lift the trophy.
NKWAWSEC showed sublime piece of basketball artistry, quick and fast inter-positional passes coupled with excellent finish to beat the defending champions AIS (girls) in 2009. Aburi Girls (ABUGIS) emerged third after tearing apart the defence of the Manfe based Methodist Girls.
But 2010 could be a different story as most of the girl schools in the region have promised to give Nkawkaw a good run for their money and the KSTS basketball court will determine whether they have the mental aptitude to retain the trophy they won at the same venue last year.
The competition is expected to be unyielding and zealously contested with plenty of goals likely to be fluffy after some team showed frailty in defence last year.
Already Ketasco, Mawuli, Awudome and Kadjebi-Asato will represent the Volta region while Sunyani Senior high will have both their boys and girls coming to Accra alongside St James and Techiman girls from the Brong Ahafo region. Two of the most powerful schools in the Ashanti region Opoku Ware and Prempeh College have also booked their ticket together with Yaa Asantewaa and St Louis representing the region in the girls division.
The grand finale of the 2010 Sprite Ball Championship takes place at the El-Wak stadium on December 22-23rd
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