Ho, Sept. 26, GNA - Last year's soccer gala champions of Asogli Yam Festival, Ho Dome Warriors on Thursday retained the Cup when they defeated Ho Bankoe Eleven 3 - 2 on penalties after the full time ended barren in this year's competition.

The game, which was witnessed by a large crowd made up of the Chiefs and people of the Asogli Traditional Area of the Volta Region as well as tourists started on a fast note after referee Solomon Mordey of Ho signalled the two teams into action. Ho Dome nearly took the lead in the fifth minute but Issaka Mohammed's beautiful strike was brilliantly saved by Ofori Martin in post for Ho Bankoe.

After the early exchanges the game from then was centred in the midfield with no serious attempts being made at goal by either side. Ho Dome again came close to scoring but captain of Ho Bankoe, Rudolph Ankama was around to scoop the ball from the goal line by to end the first half goalless. Even though both teams made a number of changes in the second half, the pattern of play did not change much until Referee Mordey brought proceedings to an end.

During the penalty shoot-out, Ho Dome converted three of their kicks while Ho Bankoe converted only two. Captain (rtd) George Nfodjo, Member of Parliament for Ho Central who donated three Cups for the competition later presented the championship Cup to Ho Dome with Bankoe receiving the silver cup and Anlorkordzi who had earlier defeated RTC 2 -1 in the third placed match took the bronze. All the 12 participating teams were presented with a football each. Mr. Francis Dowetin, Chief Executive Officer of Explicit International, Event Organisers in an interview with GNA Sports said his outfit spent 5,000 Ghana cedis to organize the gala competition. The participating teams have meanwhile appealed to the organizers to increase the sponsorship package in subsequent events to guarantee more participation, competitiveness and reward for many community teams in the area.