A group picture of some participants and officials after the event
The 2020 Ghana Universities Sports Association (GUSA) Games has been launched at a brief ceremony by the Local Organising Committee under the auspices of University of Ghana Sports Directorate. The occasion of the launch was also used to unveil the logo, theme song and mascot for the games to be hosted by the University of Ghana in January 2020 under the theme “Integrating Sports into Academia for Youth Empowerment and Development”.
Professor Samuel Kwame Offei, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Students Affairs) and Chairperson for the Local Organising Committee, who chaired the launch recounted in his remarks the importance of integrating sports into academia in order to develop holistic graduates for the job market. He reiterated the fact that an individual can excel in both sports and academics.
He emphasized the essentials of sports as a powerful tool in bridging gaps in society and addressing development issues at individual, community and national levels. According to Prof. Offei “sports is an investment just like any other venture and as such a lot more people should be trained to become experts to manage and promote it just like any business entity”.
While commending government for releasing the first tranche of money provided for the UG Stadium, Professor Samuel Offei indicated that the first tranche has been used and application has been made for the remaining funds to enable the completion of works ahead of the commencement of the games. He further appealed to government to support Universities in putting up stadiums with tartan tracks and multipurpose sports halls for the promotion and development of sports in the country.
Professor Samuel Kwame Offei
In his remarks, Dr. Charles Domfeh, GUSA President, applauded Management of the University and the Local Organising Committee for the preparation which had started earnestly to ensure a memorable hosting of the 2020 GUSA Games.
He hinted that the Federation of African University Sports (FASU) was knocking on the doors of GUSA to consider hosting FASU 2022 or 2024 and hopes the University of Ghana will take up the challenge as the premier University in Ghana.
Dr. Charles Domfeh
Professor Samuel Kwame Offei and Dr. Bella Bello Bitugu, Chairperson and Co-Chair of the LOC as well as other officials of the University and GUSA jointly unveiled the Games logo which was designed by Mr. Samuel Ofosu Assamoah, a former President of the UG Debate Society now pursuing a law programme at the Ghana School of Law. For his prize, he was presented with an amount of one Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵ 1,000) for winning the logo competition.
Mr. John Edmundson Sam of the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana won the competition to compose the theme song for the Games. A choreography was performed by students from the School of Performing Arts to outdoor the theme song. For his prize, Mr. Sam will receive an amount of One Thousand five hundred Ghana Cedis. .
The official mascot for the 2020 GUSA Games named “NILEYGON” meaning Hill of Knowledge was also unveiled.
Click here to access the logo, mascot and theme song
Dr. Bella Bello Bitugu, Director of Sports and Co-Chair for the LOC, promised all participating Universities and the public of a well-planned and world class competition befitting the status of a world-class university. He added that the the Sports Directorate team will ensure that the University of Ghana lives up to expectation, and called on the support of all and sundry in making GUSA 2020 a memorable one.
Dr. Bella Bello Bitugu
In his closing remarks, Professor Offei expressed the university’s sincere gratitude to the Director of Sports for all the measures and strategies adopted to ensure that the University’s sporting activities enjoy such great visibility in the country and internationally.
He thanked the University Community for their commitment and zeal towards sports promotion on campus.
Prof. Samuel Offei performing the official launch
The launch ceremony which was directed by Mrs. Stella A. Amoa, Director of Public Affairs, University of Ghana, had members of the Local Organising Committee, Chairpersons and Members of the Sub-Committees, Directors, members of the Sports Advisory Board and Sports Management Committee of the University, UG Sports Ambassador, GUSA Executives and members of the University Community.
Please click here to view the video of the launch
Please click here for more pictures of the event
