Ghana won two medals (one gold and one silver) on the final day of the 20th African Seniors Championships held at the King Park Athletics stadium in Durban, South Africa last Sunday.
Triple jumper Nadia Eke grabbed Ghana’s first gold medal at the Championships since the 2012 African Seniors Championships when she jumped 13.42m to clinch victory.
Nadia has thus won three international medals for Ghana in three years after winning silver at the 2014 African Senior Championships in Morocco and bronze at the 2015 All African Games in Congo-Brazzaville.
Significantly, Ghana’s national anthem was played for the first time at the 5-day event after the President of the Ghana Athletics Association, Prof. Francis Dodoo had handed a gold medal to Nadia Eke on the podium.
Following to win, Nadia, who had recorded a new national triple jump record of 13.82m prior to the competition, told reporters she was disappointment with her own performance on the day.
Soon after Nadia’s heroics, Team Ghana captain John Ampomah added another silver medal to the country’s medal collection after throwing 75.22m to win a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw event.
This was Ampomah’s third medal in six years for Ghana after winning silver at the 2012 African Senior Championships and the 2015 All African Games in Congo-Brazzaville.
John’s mark of 75.22m fell below the Rio 2016 Olympic automatic qualifying mark of 83m.
The national team had won four medals prior to the final day with two silver medals coming from the women’s 4x100m relay team and national decathlon record holder Atsu Nyamadi, while heptathlon queen Elizabeth Dadzie and pole vault specialist Jordan Yamoah had also won bronze medals in their respective events.
Despite the six medal haul which equals Ghana’s last medal count at the 2014 CAA Championships, many of the athletes expressed their disappointment with their own performances.
It is becoming increasingly clear that they will need to find some more competitions to try meet the qualifying standards for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
CAA Championship: Nadia Eke Wins Gold For Ghana
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