The basketball team of Radford University College (RUC) are champions of this year’s basketball tournament of the Ghana Union of Professional Students (GUPS) Games.
Radford Royal, which is a year old team, beat Marshalls University College by 31-29 in the grand finale at the El-Walk Sports Stadium.
The annual competition featured 4 teams like Islamic University College, Wisconsin University College, Marshals University College and winners Bradford University College.
For Radford, the win becomes the highest achievement for the basketball team after winning bronze in the Private Universities Students’ Association of Ghana (PUSAG) Games early last month, and winning silver in the same private universities games last year.
After the games, the team presented the trophy to the management of the university, amidst fanfare among the students.
Presenting the trophy to Nana Dwomoh Sarpong, Executive Chairman of RUC, Dennis Kofigo, Captain of the team, said the win was in fulfillment of the team’s promise to annex the cup for the university.
He said the team, which has five professional basketball players, was determined to engage in more national and international tournaments to win laurels.
Chairman of Radford University College, Nana Dwomoh Sarpong was very pleased with the team’s performance and hoped to see more of such exploits in the future.
“I am very happy,” he said. “The team is not even a year old and to have had the ability to win the tournament means they have a bright future.”
“We formed the team because when the youths are engaged in sports, it improves their mind and increases alertness with the hope that they become future coaches of basketball teams, not limited to, Ghana but across the world.”
He added that, “with basketball now commanding global audience we believe it will be a highly competitive sport in Ghana.”
Winning gold in the competition becomes Radford’s highest achievement for the Royals after grabbing bronze in the PUSAG games last month and Silver in 2016.
Dr. Paul Effah, President of RUC, for his part, announced that plans were underway for the construction of a modern basketball court to enable the team to effectively train and host tournaments.
