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                      the winning team

 

RSA Zonal Games in Accra

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” The Southern Zone (SZ) of Research Staff Association (RSA) has made a periodic ritual to set a day aside for socialization programme for the CSIR institutes in the southern Ghana. These include Water Research Institute (WRI), Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI), Institute for Scientific and Technological Information (INSTI), Food Research Institute (FRI), Industrial Research Institute (IIR), Animal Research Institute (ARI), Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (PGRRI), Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) and Head Office (HO).

 

Three years ago, WRI was crowned the overall winner of the games and holds the outstanding trophy in our custody. This year, the RSA-SZ once again organized the socializing and games event at the Industrial Research Institute (IIR) on October 6, 2022. In attendance were all the CSIR institutes in the southern zone, along with the head office. Of note was the WRI team, the defending champions and the target of other institutes.

 

After a quick breakfast, the events got off to a rocky start with a football match between WRI and OPRI. As the full complement of the OPRI team hasn't arrived, that match was postponed. The match between STEPRI and PGRRI also faced a similar situation and had to be played two-aside, a match which STEPRI lost by a goal to nil. By the end of this game, the other noncompetitive games, namely Ludo, Draft, Playing card, and Oware, had begun in earnest. Warm-ups for the tennis games have also started.

                                draft

By 10:00 am, the entire OPRI team had arrived and lined up against the WRI team in a football match. It was a heated game with OPRI pushing WRI hard in both halves. However, WRI hadn't gone rusty in the two years of no games. They matched OPRI at every turn, and bested them in the end with a goal to nil.

 

The competitive rounds of the table tennis games started, and in spite of the unfavorable winds and playing conditions, the WRI team prevailed against the other teams, going all the way to the finals. The other competitive games were held in the time between the football matches.

 

The WRI team had a good showing in all the events, placing first, in most of them or second in those that first place couldn't be secured. Indeed, throughout the day, the WRI team proved that their slogan, "We didn’t come to compete; we came to win’ was not just empty words. With wins in the table tennis, 100-metre race, and apple in water and strong showings in the lime and spoon, musical chair dance and sack races, WRI was poised to retain the trophy as the best team in the Southern Zone.

 

The cruise to victory hit a snag when WRI lost the tug of war to IIR in the first round, failing to advance to the finals of that competition. This left the final football game between WRI and IIR.

                aggressive competitor of apple in water oware ludu

With IIR bent on hosting and winning, and WRI out for vengeance after having been knocked out of the tug of war by IIR, the final football match was nothing but fierce. After both halves of the match ended goalless, the match had to be settled with spot kicks. One by one, the players from both teams lined up and took their shots, first WRI, and then IIR. When all the players had had their shots, the score line was even, and the match went into sudden death mode. Even then, shot after shot ended with goals for both teams, or misses for both. With the sun going down and everyone on the edge of their seats, WRI netted a goal and IIR missed its turn on the spot, thus bringing the game to an end with WRI as the winners of the football match.

With all the events at an end, the scores were tallied. As was to be expected, based on the stellar performance of the WRI team, WRI was adjudged the overall winner and was awarded the trophy amidst much fanfare. Thus, history has repeated itself and WRI is still the proud winning team in the Southern Zone of Ghana.

                                table tenis

The leadership of WRI-RSA appreciates the commitment of members and the support of the directorate to make it happen, and this legacy has to be protected in the ensuing generation to raise the flag of WRI high and replicate it in research and development (R&D) activities to support the socio-economic development of Ghana. Long live the RSA, the Water Research Institute, the CSIR, and Ghana!

        more celebration

        celebration with swag

        winners