On this day 11 January 2004 (Exactly 15 years ago)
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene and Life Patron of Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club announced a 13-member Board of Directors headed by Mr Paul Victor Obeng , a former Presidential Advisor on Governmental Affairs under the PNDC regime.
A statement issued from the Manhyia Palace and signed by Mr Kofi Owusu-Boateng, Private Secretary to the Asantehene in Kumasi, mentioned the other members of the board as Messrs Awuah Nyamekye, Kennedy Adjapong, Kwabena Amoakohene, Akyeampong Kyei and Yaw Bawuah, representing former Chief Executives.
The rest are Osei Kwame Despite, Owner of Peace FM, an Accra-based FM Station, Kwabena Kesse (Kessben), Assad Mallah, Wilberforce Kwadwo Mfum, representing old players while Alhaji Ejee, DSP Helina Cobbina, representing Kotoko Ladies and Osei Boateng, National Circles Chairman, representing supporters.
On this day 11 January 2016 (Exactly 3 years ago) Barcelona forward Lionel Messi won his record 5th FIFA Ballon d’Or Award with 41.33% of the votes
On this day 11 January 1977 (Exactly 42 years ago) France released Abu Daoud, a Palestinian suspected of involvement in massacre of Israeli athletes at 1972 Munich Olympics
The Munich massacre was an attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, in which the Palestinian terrorist group Black September took eleven Israeli Olympic team members hostage and killed them along with a West German police officer.
On this day 11 January 1988 (Exactly 31 years ago) The Soviet Union announced that it will take part in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, breaking ranks with its North Korean allies and ending a 12-year interruption in U.S.-Soviet competition in the prestigious quadrennial sports event.
{North Korea’s Olympic committee said earlier that the country will not attend the games, special correspondent Peter Maass reported from Seoul. The statement said efforts would continue for North Korea to cohost the games, a proposal rejected by the International Olympic and by South Korea.}
Marat Gramov, chairman of the Soviet Sports Committee, told a press conference that Moscow had formally accepted the invitation of the International Olympic Committee, quelling any fears that the Olympics would be marred once again by a superpower boycott.
The United States led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In a move widely perceived as retaliation, the Soviet Union stayed home during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, citing concern for its athletes’ safety.
Gramov, who broke the news of the Soviets’ 1984 boycott, said that the cycle of boycotts was “not the best page in the history of the Olympic Games.”
The boycotts reflected a decline in the U.S.-Soviet relationship, which took its first plunge after the 1979 Afghan intervention and sank further during the first term of the Reagan administration. The 1988 resumption of the traditional athletic rivalry mirrors the upbeat mood in Moscow-Washington relations since the December 1987 meeting between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Soviets’ acceptance, delivered six days before the International Olympic Committee’s deadline, followed a positive response from other East Bloc countries, including East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. The Mongolian Olympic Committee announced its participation in the games within hours of Moscow’s acceptance.
While the statement offered support for communist North Korea’s effort to cohost the Olympics, Gramov indicated that Pyongyang is now on its own.
“We made our decision about an hour ago,” Gramov said. “As for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, it should take its own decision in this respect.”
By George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
