By Badmus Shina
The 2019 Gbaramatu Amaseikumor Football tournament which had Okerenkoko emerging champion, was fun.
The football tournament took place at Oporoza Community of Gbaramatu Kingdom and had 12 competitive teams from various communities for the competition.
The final kick-off had Okerenkoko and Oporoza in a fierce head-to-head battle that ended to 1-1 and took both teams to a penalty shoot-out. Each team presented 5 players to take their penalties which ended with a score of 4-3.
Okerenkoko emerged winner with a 5-4 victory in all. Checkin Bebenimibor who played number 6, scored the final penalty that led his team to victory.
In an interview with GbaramatuVoice, Bebenimibo said it was very intense being the last man to take the determining and most important penalty of the game, and so he was very happy when his ball hit the net, and he delivered for his team.
According to him, “I am very happy that we came out the champion from the tournament. We had great team work and understanding, and that gave us an edge over our counterpart.”
The Captain of Okerenkoko Yankee FC, Abobo Ikios added that he and his team did their best and made their community proud. “We are grateful that we made the community proud, and will continue to make them proud by winning subsequent games in the future,” he said.
Comrade Christopher Wuruyai; President, Gbaramatu Youth Council (GYC), said the teams that participated in the tournament all presented un-waning spirit but Okerenkoko proved that they were the underdog and so won the title.
In his words, “Well it is a game you win some, you lose some. But all the teams put on an outstanding performance but Okerenkoko did better. I believe this will make other teams to sit up and improve themselves in other competitions to come.”
Speaking about the significant of the games in the festival, he narrated that the football tournament as well as other competitions was infused into this year programme to showcase to the world, the sporting spirit of the Gbaramatu people and as well entertain the numerous visitors to the kingdom who had travelled from far and near to participate in the festival.
“The significant of this culture we have incorporated in form of games and competition is to showcase the talent of the Gbaramatu people, also to bring unification amongst ourselves. This goes to show that you cannot take away football from Gbaramatu Kingdom,” he concluded.
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