Tragedy hit Ghana hockey last Saturday when a 62-year-old player of Citizens club collapsed during a friendly match and died 30 minutes later at the Trust Hospital at Osu, Accra.
Nii Acquaye Ankrah, son of the late General Ankrah, collapsed about 10 minutes after coming on in the Citizens-NDK match at the National Hockey Pitch in Accra and was rushed by some of the senior players to the Trust Hospital but he gave up the ghost within 30 minutes.
The affable Nii Acquaye, as the player was affectionately called, did not show any sign of illness before the game but after unsuccessfully chasing an opponent for the ball, he stopped momentarily and then collapsed.
The body has been transferred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital mortuary. The incident brought all activities at the pitch to a halt as his colleagues, mostly veteran players and ex-national stars, could hardly believe it.
An all-round sports personality, Nii Acquaye, was once national shot put and javelin champion, and was a co-founder of the Citizens hockey club. He once worked with the foreign division of the Ghana Commercial bank and was the London branch manager until the late 1980s,
