The 13th African Games will begin in just two weeks, and Ghana Athletics is hoping to win a whopping seven gold medals across the board.
For the first time in its history, Ghana will be hosting the competition, and high expectations are placed on the athletes who will represent the country in the different sports.
It is anticipated that athletes from Ghana will compete in the 100, 200, 400, and 800-meter sprints as well as the 1,500 and 5,000-meter events in track and field. Ghana will compete in the long and high jump field events.
However, because the Ghanaian athletes were unable to meet the qualifying throw or jump, there will not be a representative for Ghana in field events like the discus, shot putt, and triple jump, among others.
Speaking to Luv Sports in Kumasi, Bawa Fuseini, the president of Ghana Athletics, announced that the country will field 36 athletes, 18 of whom will be men and the remaining 18 will be women, with the goal of winning at least seven gold medals for Ghana.
We set a very difficult and demanding goal for ourselves that was extremely ambitious. Our primary goal is gold, but we’ll take silver and bronze as well. However, Fuseini emphasized, “Our primary goal is to go for the kill and to win seven gold medals.
The President of the GAA expresses confidence in the athletes representing the country in the Africa Games to meet the goals established.
“I’m very confident in them. We were all surprised last week by a young athlete who we never thought would reach his peak so quickly. Though we always knew he was talented and good, we never imagined he would rise to prominence so quickly. Solomon Dadzie is the new leader in Africa for this year after finishing the 200 meters in 20.90 seconds.
“We are not in a rush to submit our final list because we have informed the Ministry [of Sports] and LOC that in athletics, our selection is based on performance and that we should just give athletes the opportunity to compete,” Fuseini stated.
