Okonkwo tourney enters knock-out stage
The Round of 16 matches of the on-going Season 15 of the annual Bishop Mike Okonkwo Football tournament will kick-off today, August 2, at the Practice Pitch of the National Institute for Sports, Lagos.
According to the fixtures released by the organisers, Great Africa Utd will battle Maryland FC in the first match of the day; Potters FC will be up against William Falas FC while Don Jacy will trade tackles with Sam Jasson FC.
However, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the championship, Deacon Malachy Ndubuzor has charged teams that qualified for the knock-out stage of the competition to continue playing to the rules of the game warning that any team that goes contrary to the laid down rules will be disciplined.
“As we enter the crucial stage which is the knock-out, it is important to remind teams that discipline and fair play is our watch word because any act of indiscipline will be tolerated and offenders will be severely punished.
” You are aware that we disqualified six teams in the Round of 32 for flouting the rules and we will not hesitate to dish-out appropriate punishment to any team that wants to rubbish the reputation of the championship,” he stressed.
Ndubuzor while expressing happiness that the competition has been going on smoothly, he promised that the knock-out stage will be more entertaining.
“I’m happy that we have not witnessed any ugly incidence since the commencement of the tournament, starting from the Round of 64 to the Round of 32 and we hope it continues like that till the end of the championship which comes up on September 2 at the Yaba College of Technology,” he concluded.
