Ghana’s Hope in Athletics Continue to Fade

Ghana’s Atsu Nyamadi, on Monday, commenced his quest for glory in the Decathlon event at the 20th Commonwealth Games, at the Hampdon Park, Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland.
        
However his performance, was not impressive as he placed ninth after three events, dimming Ghana’s chances of making progress in Athletics at the Games.
         
The United States of America (USA), based athlete started his campaign in Men’s 100meters, where he clocked 11.27sec, before competing in Long Jump and Shot Put.
         
He made a total 2,397 points and currently lying on the 9th position, in a competition which is being led by Brynt Adams from England with 2,521.
         
Atsu, will continue with High Jump, 400m, 110mHurdles in a bid to revive his chances of picking a medal – a feat that looked remote from him taking into consideration his present position.
       
In the Women’s 200m semi-finals Heat Two, Flings Owusu Agyapong placed 5th with a time of 11.55sec and has thus dropped out of the competition.
       
Moreover, Kwadwo Acheampong, Daniel Gyasi and and John Obrain competed in the Men’s 400m Heat Two, Four and Seven respectively but none of them was able to progress to the next stage of the track event.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s Judokas, Emmanuel Nartey, has descended heavily on officials of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), calling them liars and incompetent administrators.
       
Speaking to the GNA Sports, Nartey, who was on his way to Russia for the World championship said, he was not expelled from the camp as presented in a press statement by the GOC, but rather left to engage in pre-tournament preparations for the World Championships in Russia.
       
“It is not true I was expelled from camp. These officials are liars and incompetent. They should be ashamed of themselves.
     
“I didn't engage in any conversation with the GOC or the Minister of Youth and Sports, neither did I used any offensive language. The money issue was a matter handled by my president.
       
“The press statement was false. It was vendetta and a defeat for the failure to eject me from the camp. I left the camp because I was on another duty for Ghana judo.” He stated.
         
According to Nartey, “They should stop spending money on night clubs and drinks and focus on the development of athletes and welfare since that is the reason they came to Scotland”.
        
He said he was sad and deeply concerned about how people were selected as sports development officers for Ghana adding officials do not care about the welfare of athletes and wants them to beg for what they truly deserve.
         
“This is not good enough. Ghana does not belong to the Chef D’ Mission or any of the officials, so we must all be treated with equal respect”. He added.
        
Nartey, said he was opened for any form of debate over the issue at any forum and challenged the officials of the GOC to come out with the truth.
 
SOURCE: GNA