Accra, April 6, GNA - Abrah Appiah, Chairman of the Professional League Board (PLB) has hailed the commencement of the special Knock-out competition and is already envisaging better days as the tourney enters the second round next weekend.

Sunday, April 16 has been fixed as the date for the second round of matches and the PLB boss believes the competition aimed at keeping the 16 Premiership Clubs active in the absence of the league can only get better.

He told the GNA Sports that "I am very happy the competition commenced and without any hitch following the enthusiasm shown by the Clubs".

The Chairman, a frontier of the OneTouch sponsored competition said "the response from the Clubs was massive and I am very satisfied with the way things have gone so far".

The participants, who include relegated Ebusua Dwarfs and Kade Hotspurs, received 13 million cedis as appearance fee each and would enjoy part of the proceeds generated from the gates.

The competition which began on Wednesday has a glittering trophy and a 30 million cedis cash reward at stake.

Sekondi Hasaacas, Power FC, Kpando Heart of Lions and Bofoakwa Tano advanced to the next stage of the competition with convincing victories on match day one.

The quartet would be billed against the likes of Ashanti Gold, Liberty Professionals, Fetteh Feyenoord and Real Sportive at the next stage.

The winners will then progress to the quarter final stage where the top four, Asante Kotoko, Accra Hearts of Oak, King Faisal and Berekum Arsenals would all begin their campaign. Dwarfs, Hotspurs, Okwawu United and Real Tamale United (RTU) all exited from the first round matches.

The competition comes in handy in the absence of the League which can only begin after the summer's World Cup soccer summit slated for Germany.