By Ikemefuna Asika, Awka
Umuayom football team Monday emerged winners of the maiden Ifeigbo Peace Cup football tournament in Awka, Anambra State.
The team defeated Umuzocha football team by 2 goals to 1 in a keenly contested match played at Awka Township Stadium.
The Umuzocha team scored their only goal in the first half while Umuayom equalized in the first half and scored the winning goal in the second half.
What could have taken the match to extra time was prevented when Umuayom goal tender made a late minute super save to deny Umuzocha the equalizer.
Earlier, Umudioka walked over Umuogwali to win the third position.
The three winning teams were later presented with medals and the champions, Umuayom with a cup.
Speaking on the occasion, the special guest, Senator Ben Ndi Obi expressed happiness with the organizers of the competition especially the sponsor, Ossy Onuko, the MD Awka Capital Development Authority.
Senator Obi noted that such programs would keep the youths off the streets and called for encouragement for the sponsor and the programme itself.
On his part, Ossy Onuko, the MD Awka Capital Development Authority (ACTDA) expressed happiness that part of the reasons why the competition was organized was achieved.
“As record has shown since 17th November 2023 when we commenced the tournament, there have not been any gun related violence in Awka community. So you can see that when we consistently push for policies and ideas like this, we will address a lot of social vices.
Onuko noted that from the challenges observed in the maiden edition, the next edition would be a bang.
Also speaking, Chinwe Okoli, the Special Adviser to governor Soludo on Innovation and Business incubation, described the competition as good which can be used to redirect the youths positively and looks forward to having this kind of tournament replicated in all the communities in Anambra State.
The Ifeigbo Peace Cup was organized for all the villages in Awka.
