The Grand finale of the over 8 months of flying the ball held at the Akosombo, saw Asutuare Spikers defeat Akosombo Hydro 3 straight, to be crowned Champions of the Akro Ako Eastern Regional Volleyball League in the Male division.

The finals, played on Saturday, December 28, 2019, witnessed a tough game with the champions winning all 3 sets by small margins (25-21, 25-22, 25-22).

Although the host team got many disappointed, they appreciated the excellence of the Asutuare team, who were presented with not only a trophy but a cash prize of GH₵2,000.00, plus Akro Ako Lacoste.

Hydro Spikers also walked away with GH₵1,500.00, while 3rd place Koforidua Unity Club bagged GH₵1,000.00 for their prize.

In the female division, Atimpoku Bridge Spikers also defeated the ladies of Asutuare 3 straight (25-8, 25-13, 25-13) to walk away with the ultimate prize of GH₵1,500.00, and branded Akro Ako Lacoste.

While the 2-day final showdown had Asutuare Ladies winning a cash prize of GH₵1,000.00 and branded Akro Ako lacoste for being runners up, Koforidua Unity Ladies emerged 3rd and were handed GH₵500.00 cash prize.

Chairman of the Eastern Regional Volleyball Association, Daniel Kenneth in an interview with TalksenseSports, highlighted the achievements of the league.

“I think that it has been an exciting 8 months of Volleyball and one of the main achievements is that we are the best Civilian Volleyball league in the country, having 8 civilian teams. We have been able to develop some talents through this league; I saw very young players from the Senior High level displaying tremendously today. And the most important thing is the talent that we have been able to develop, very young people. We have also been able to get 6 female teams this year, as it was difficult from the beginning and that is an achievement as well."

“We have come far and we’ve had a great year as we were able to give cash prizes to the winners. I would like to congratulate all the teams for comporting themselves. We saw huge fan base wherever we go and it was a plus. This tells us, volleyball is growing.” He concluded.

The league started with 4 referees but ended with 16 referees due to the enthusiasm to developing the game in the region and the commitment level of the referees.

Despite the achievements, the enthused Chairman, outlined some challenges they faced during the year 2019 and called on Coorperate bodies to their aid.

“The number one thing is resources, because we have to travel to all venues and most of the teams couldn’t finance accommodation and transportation but the league has to go on, so what do we do.? Money to buy the very basic stuff was an issue. We had low publicity as well and we see all as challenges. We see it a bigger challenge next year if we can’t get more prizes from more sponsors to present because of what we’ve done this year.”

Apart from the main sponsor, Akro Ako, Itel, Chief of Akosombo, Hon. Paul Ansah (NPP parliamentary Candidate) and Dr Damian (of Damian Hospital in Koforidua), are the other supporters in making the 2019 league a success.

One of the very committed people who have also contributed to the success of the League is Coach Monica Arko Adjei. The League, with 8 Male teams and 6 female teams, hopes to have more teams register for the 2020 season.