PHARAOHS REJECT HOTEL?

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi

Players, technical men and team officials of the Egyptian national team who arrived in Kumasi last Friday to participate in the Ghana 2008 tournament are now moving from one hotel to the other in the Kumasi metropolis after they rejected the 3-star Miklin Hotel which was officially allocated to them.
In the space of three days between last Friday and Sunday, they had been accommodated in three different hotels within the Kumasi metropolis and its environs. From Miklin, they first moved to the Golden Tulip Kumasi City Hotel, but there was another controversy over the facilities there, compelling some of them to move to NODA, a 3-star plush hotel which was inaugurated a month ago.
While the Egyptian players are now being accommodated at the Golden Tulip Kumasi City Hotel, which was inaugurated by President Kufuor barely a week ago, the team officials and media men are lodging at NODA Hotel at Fumesua.
The Egyptians are in Group C and are paired against Cameroun, The Sudan and Zambia.
Sources close to the Kumasi Venue Organising Committee (KVOC) told the Graphic Sports that there was a serious argument between the players and the technical team over their accommodation at Miklin last Friday as soon as they arrived there.
According to the source, the technical men were of the opinion that as defending champions, they should have been accommodated at a five-star hotel and therefore saw no reason why they should be brought to Miklin.
Among the facilities at Miklin are a gymnasium, broad band internet facilities, presidential suites with room service, terrace bar and four conference halls, as well as a spacious car park and a restaurant.
The source said it was to avoid any controversy among the players and team officials that the KVOC agreed to swap the Egyptians with The Sudanese who had not arrived in Kumasi by then. But at the Golden Tulip they again had cause to complain, necessitating their move to NODA where the team officials and team are now lodging, while the players remain at Golden Tulip Kumasi City.
The source said as soon as they moved out from Miklin, the KVOC, which had initially agreed to accommodate the Sudanese team at the Golden Tulip, where the Zambians are also lodging, quickly arranged to accommodate The Sudan at Miklin.
It said the Sudanese team were very much in love with the facilities they saw at Miklin and had started their preparations in their open encounter with Egypt at the Baba Yara Stadium on Saturday January 26.