CAA Championship: John Ampomah Unhappy With Silver Medal

Ghanaian Javelin Thrower, John Ampomah has expressed dissatisfaction about his performance at the just-ended African Senior Championships in South Africa despite winning a silver medal. 

The captain for Team Ghana threw 75.22m in the men’s javelin to pick the silver medal with the gold going to South Africa’s Sunette Viljoen .

And speaking in an interview upon the team’s arrival in Accra, Ampomah revealed that he failed to meet his personal expectation during the 5-day competition.

“I was expecting something, but it was rather unfortunate that I couldn’t meet my expectation”, he said, adding that,  “my expectation was not just to win a medal, but also to throw certain distance that I have been chasing the whole of this year. But I think it’s still not over. As for the medal, I was hoping for, at least, a gold, but it was rather unfortunate”.

Ampomah further revealed that he fell short on some technicalities but was quick to note that, he will be ready for the 2016 Olympic games in Rio.

“It is just a little technical aspect that I am missing, the strength is there, no injuries, it is just little technical aspect I miss all the time, so, I am going to work on that this coming weeks before Rio and I think I would be good by then”, he stated.

Team Ghana Returned from the 20th African Seniors Championship with six medals and finished sixth on the medal table.

CAA Championship: John Ampomah Unhappy With Silver Medal

Ghana"s Relay Team Disappointed

Ghanaian women’s 4x100m relay team expressed their disappointment at not being able to run the required time for qualification to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games despite winning a silver medal in a time of 44.05s at the 20th African Seniors Championships at the Kings Park Athletics stadium in Durban South Africa last Thursday.

The quartet of Flings Owusu-Agyapong, Gemma Acheampong, Beatrice Gyaman and Janet Amponsah came second in the final race which was won by host nation South Africa in 43.66s.

The team needed to have recorded 53.53s to break into the top 16 4x100m women’s relay ranking in the world and to secure automatic qualification to the Games.

“We came here trying to get an Olympic qualifier. We didn’t come here to medal,” a visibly disappointed Flings Owusu Agyapong said in an interview, adding that, “So it socks that our time was really slow. We are not excited.”

Ghana thus needs to scout for other relay race opportunities before the IAAF’s Rio deadline date of 11th July, 2016.

Gemma Acheampong commented: “If we can find a meet, then we will be excited to get into it. Give it another go.”

Meanwhile, the Ghana based duo of Abigail Kwarteng and Regina Yeboah came 4th and 5th in the women’s high jump with 1.76m and 1.73m respectively.

Julia Agawu narrowly missed out on a place on the podium after placing 4th in the women’s discus throw with 51.74m.

Three other athletes clichéd final places in their respective events.

800m runner Sampson Laari finished in a respectable 6th place in his debut appearance at the African Championships men’s 800m in 1:47.62m.

Janet Amponsah crossed the finish line in 23.45 to take 5th position in the women’s 200m final while Gemma Acheampong came 6th in a time of 10.49s in the women’s 100m final. The men’s 4x100m relay finished 6th in their final in 40.21s.

The trio of Emmanuel Dasor, Vivian Mills and Akua Obeng Akrofi exited the semi final of their respective 400m events.

Ghana was represented by 27 athletes at the five-day competition which took place from 22nd-26th June, 2016.

Ghana"s Relay Team Disappointed

CAA Championship: Nadia Eke Wins Gold For Ghana

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

CAA Championship: Ghanaian Trio Bow Out

Ghanaian Trio Emmanuel Dasor, Vivian Mills and Akua Obeng Akrofi have all failed to make it to the final of the men’s and women’s 400m respectively at the 20th African Seniors Championships which is taking place in South Africa. 

Dasor bowed out of the men’s event after coming 4th in his semi final in a time of 47.12s on Thursday.

Vivian Mills and Akua Obeng Akrofi also exited the women’s 400m.

Akrofi came last in her race in 54.49s while Mills placed 7th in 53.87s.

CAA Championship: Ghanaian Trio Bow Out

CAA Championship: Sampson Laari Through To 800m Final

Ghanaian middle distance runner, Sampson Laari has advanced to the final of the men’s 800m after finishing in second place in 1:48.46m in Heat 2 on day two of the 20th African Seniors Championships at the Kings Park Athletics Stadium in Durban-South Africa on Thursday. 

Laari, who is competing in his first African Championships, secured an automatic spot in the final after coming second behind Mozambique’s Albertino Mamba who won the heat in 1:48.36m while South Africa’s Jacob Rozani took third place in 1:48.48m.

In the final race, the former Ghanaian youth athlete will be coming up against the likes of Botswana’s Nijel Amos who won the other 800m semi final in a very tactical race in a time of 1:49.91m.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s 4x100m men’s relay team are also through to the final  after finishing second in Heat 4 in a time of 40.73s on Thursday.

The team qualified for the final as one of the fastest losers on the day and the quartet will be coming up against Cote D’Ivoire, South Africa, Senegal, Zambia, Botswana in the final.

CAA Championship: Sampson Laari Through To 800m Final

CAA Championship: Atsu Nyamadi Wins Decathlon Silver

Atsu Nyamadi won Ghana’s first medal at the 20th African Seniors Championships at the Kings Park Athletics Stadium in Durban-South Africa on Thursday after taking silver in the men’s decathlon on the second day of the event.

Ranked third with 3895 points after the first day of the combined event, Atsu put up a strong performance on the final day, winning the javelin throw and discus throw events with 63.48m and 43.26m respectively.

He has thus won his third international medal for Ghana in three years after previously winning bronze and silver at the 2014 African Seniors Championships and 2015 All African Games respectively.

He debuted in the decathlon at the 2012 CAA Championships in Benin and has gone on to become a major force to reckon with on the African continent. He currently holds the national decathlon record of 7800pts.

Elsewhere, sprinter Gemma Acheampong put up a spirited performance in the women’s 100m final, placing 6th in a time of 11.49s, just 0.01s short of her personal best 11.48s.

Ivorian Murielle Ahoure lived up to her pre-race ‘favourite tag’ to win the 100m as she crossed the finish line in 10.99s, followed in second place by South Africa’s Carina Horn in 11.07 while another Ivorian sprinter Marie Josee Ta Lou settled for third place in 11.15s.

CAA Championship: Atsu Nyamadi Wins Decathlon Silver

CAA Championships: Ghanaian Sprinter Qualifies To 100m Final

Ghanaian sprinter Gemma Acheampong is through to the final of the women’s 100m after placing second in a time of 11.60s in semi final 1 at the ongoing 20th African Senior Championships at the Kings Park Athletics Stadium in Durban-South Africa on Wednesday, 22nd June.

Gemma punched her ticket for the final after sealing one of the automatic places in the heat, behind Cote D’Ivoire’s Marie Ta Lou who crossed the finish line in 11.20s.

The U.S. based athlete had earlier won Heat 1 of the 100m in 11.84s to progress to the semis.

She has thus qualified for the final of the women’s 100m for a second consecutive time, having similarly qualified for the final at the 2014 CAA Championships where she placed 7th.

CAA Championships: Ghanaian Sprinter Qualifies To 100m Final

Atsu Nyamadi Opens Ghana"s Campaign At 2016 CAA Championship

Ghana’s decathlon record holder Atsu Nyamadi got the country’s campaign at the 20th African Senior Championships underway at the Kings Park Athletics Stadium in Durban-South Africa, finishing third in the decathlon men’s long jump in 7.09m and the shot put in 13.83m respectively on Wednesday, 22nd June, 2016.

Atsu’s is the only Ghanaian athlete competing in the grueling decathlon event which is made up of ten track and field events.

The Middle Tennessee student, who won bronze in the decathlon at the 2014 CAA Championships, opened his account by finishing 4th in the 100m final in a time of 11.31s.

He subsequently jumped 7.09m to place third in the decathlon men’s long jump before throwing 13.83m to take third place in the shot putt event.

Meanwhile, promising 400m runner Agnes Abrokwah made her international debut in the women’s 400m, placing 6th in Heat 2 in 55.18s.

Vivian Mills and Akua Obeng Akrofi came 4th in Heat 4 in 54.79s and 5th place in Heat 1 respectively.

Sprinter Shadrack Adu Gyamfi came 6th in heat 5 of the men’s 100m in 10.88s.

Ghana is being represented by 28 athletes at the 20th CAA African Senior Athletics Championships which is taking place at the Kings Park Athletics Stadium in Durban, South Africa from June 22-26, 2016.

Atsu Nyamadi Opens Ghana"s Campaign At 2016 CAA Championship