Wa, April 2, GNA - The Coca Cola Under-17 regional championships tournament is underway in Wa, the Upper West Regional Capital to select the best team to represent the Region in the national contest in Accra this year.

Eight juvenile teams made up of Sky FC, Power FC, Rainbow FC, Yaasin FC, Young Heroes, Anokye Stars, Bahass FC, and Wa FC are competing in the two-day tournament.

Mr Abdul Rashid Pelpuo, Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament who opened the tournament, urged the organisers to support the District Assemblies to go into the rural communities to unearth sports talents. He said Ghana abounds with talented young footballers who are wasting their talents due to lack of avenues and because they have no opportunities of receiving technical attention to develop.

Mr Pelpuo said even though there were a lot of difficulties and challenges involved in unearthing talents that should not deter former footballers and coaches from assisting the youthful boys and girls with the opportunity to develop their potentials. The Deputy Majority Leader who is also the Member of Parliament for Wa Central, urged the organisers to avoid discrimination in the selection of the best team to represent the country because Ghana's football had gone far at the international level.

"I have always received some protest from young footballers from the Region that any time some of them were selected to participate at national tournaments, they were often dropped and thus serving as a discouragement to many of them".

"The duties of a technical person is to look for the best and nothing more than that," Mr Pelpuo said, adding that: "Let us use the talents for national development and this we can do by providing equal opportunities to all to ascend to the top".

Mr Pelpuo commended Coca Cola and Metro TV for their interest in the development of football and urged other companies to emulate them by diversifying into lesser known sporting activities to unearth talents for the country.

Alhaji Daudi Yahaya, Chairman of the Regional Football Association in a welcoming address, said a national tournament would be organised in Accra involving a team each from the 10 Regions for the best team to be sponsored by Coca Cola to watch the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He announced that the winner of the tournament would take home 400 Ghana cedis and the championship trophy as its prize. The second and third teams would also take away 350 Ghana Cedis and 300 Ghana Cedis and some Coca Cola producta as their prize.

In the opening marches, Young Heroes beat Sky FC 4-1 on penalties after a goalless drawn game. Anokye Stars also beat Yaasin FC 2-0 within the stipulated time while Power FC defeated Wa FC 5-4 on penalties. 02 April 10