Accra, Aug. 7, GNA - The Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) has said that the disqualification of Ghana’s 4×100 men’s quartet was as a result of an unfortunate oversight by the team’s coaching crew.
Ghana’s men’s 4×100 were disqualified from Sunday’s finals despite booking a spot after Rasheed Sameenu replaced Joseph Paul Amoah.
Paul Amoah was expected to join his colleagues Sean Safo-Antwi, Benjamin Azamati, and Barnabas Aggerh for the race, but Amoah pulled out of the semi-finals as he was scheduled to run the 200m finals.
A statement released by the GAA explained that Amoah’s withdrawal was not transmitted in time to the Technical Information Center (TIC) by Ghana’s coaches, which resulted in the disqualification.
« GAA would like to first render an unqualified and heartfelt apology to the men’s 4X100m for the technical oversight that led to the disqualification of the team from the final of the 4X100m relay after comfortably placing 3rd overall in the semi-final.
« We also apologize to the many fans of Ghana Athletics around the world and to the entire nation. We extend our sincere apology.
« Ghana originally submitted its 4X100m final confirmation listing four (4) starters and a reserve about 14 hours before the start of the race on August 5th.
« Joseph Amoah, who was originally listed as a starter, was subsequently ruled out of participating in the semi-final of the 4x100m on the morning of August 6th.
« However, in what we can only describe as an unfortunate oversight, Joseph’s withdrawal was not transmitted in time to the Technical Information Center (TIC) by our coaching crew as intended before the race, » the statement said.
The GAA added that they were engaging stakeholders on the matter and had learnt lessons from the unfortunate disqualification.
