Sportsmen and women from 14 public tertiary institutions have converged on the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) campus to participate in this year’s edition of the Ghana University Games (GUSA Games).

The event is being held at the Paa Joe Sports Stadium.

The last time KNUST hosted the biennial event was in 2012.

The 14 participating institutions in this year’s games include the host institution Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Ghana (UG), University of Education -Winneba (UEW), Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED), University for Development Studies (UDS) and the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD UBIDS).

The other schools are University of Cape Coast (UCC), University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA), Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), University of Mines and Technology (UMAT), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) and C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS).

The students in the various schools are competing in 12 sporting disciplines including football, athletics, volleyball, tennis, hockey, handball, badminton, netball, and basketball among others.

Speaking at the launch of the 18-day competition, the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson, expressed her excitement as the event has coincided with KNUST’s 70th anniversary.

“It is significant, therefore, that during a year-long program to celebrate our 70th anniversary, we can have the opportunity to host the 27th edition of the Games as part of the events to climax our 70th-anniversary celebrations,”

On his part, the Chairman of the local organizing committee, who doubles as the Pro-Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. Ellis Owusu Dabo, expressed the University’s readiness to host this year’s event successfully.

“On the 13th of July 2021, the Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology inaugurated the local organizing committee of the 27th edition of these games with the mandate to organize the games in an extraordinary manner and to ensure that, the KNUST will not only host these games but to host and win. The local organizing committee got into action immediately and constituted 15 sub-committees to take charge of the various activities, the result is what we see today and in a couple of days, we are expecting that the flamboyance we’ve seen will be translated into actions on the various fields and courts.”

The launch saw the Chairman of the Governing Council of KNUST, Nana Effah-Apenteng, who represented the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei Mensah, Director General of National Sports Authority, Prof. Peter Twumasi and many others.

Vice Chancellors of the various institutions, including the President of Vice Chancellors Ghana, were present.