The Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif has demanded an official explanation from handlers of Ghana’s Athletics team following the unfortunate disqualification of Ghana’s 4×100 relay team from Sunday’s final despite qualifying from the tracks in the ongoing Commonwealth Games.
Ghana 4× 100 rear team placed 3rd in the semi finals to back a place in the finals, but in an embarrassing and completely avoidable fashion, Ghana was disqualified following a huge gaffe by officials in charge of the team.
Ghanaian officials decided to replace Joseph Paul Amoah with Abdul Rasheed Saminu but they did not follow the rules of the race to inform officials at least one hour to the race.
As a result, Amoah’s name was in the system and indeed his name flashed on television screens as part of Ghana’s quartet team of Sean Sarfo Antwi, Benjamin Azamati, Bananas Aggerh, Abdul Rasheed Saminu was actually the one on the track.
The avoidable error got many Ghanaians disappointed, and now the Sports Minister has added his voice.
While Congratulating Wahid Omar and Paul Amoah for winning Ghana brinze medals, Mustapha Ussif added he has asked for an exclusive report on the “faux pas”.
“Congratulations to Wahid Omar and Joseph Paul Amoah, who won bronze medals for Ghana in the Men’s Light Welterweight and 200m events respectively. I also wish Abraham Mensah and Joseph Commey the best of luck in their respective Bantamweight and Featherweight final bouts,” the Minister wrote on his Facebook page.
“On the earlier faux pas 4×100 final race disqualification, I’ve asked the International Games Committee and the Chef de Mission to provide an exclusive report to my office about that incident.”
Ghanasportsweb.com