Another 4x100m relay for Ghana, another disaster. In Paris, Ghana were disqualified after initially placing 6th with a time of 38.62s due to passing a baton outside the takeover zone, relating to the final changeover between Ibrahim Fuseini and Joseph Paul Amoah.
It feels like de ja vu for Benjamin Azamati and Joseph Paul Amoah, who were in the quartet that was disqualified in the 4x100m final of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to another final changeover issue despite finishing 7th with 38.08s. This also happened earlier that year at the 2021 World Relays in Silesia.
Earlier this year, there were signs of trouble after the baton was dropped in the first qualifier at the World Relay Championships. Ghana, with a quartet then of Ibrahim Fuseini, Isaac Botsio, Benjamin Azamati and Joseph Paul Amoah bounced back on the second attempt to qualify.
But questions have been raised about the lineup in France. Why was Isaac Botsio dropped? Why did Abdul-Rasheed Saminu opt out of the 200m and later introduced to the relays? Why was Fuseini moved from the starter to the third leg?
The answers are not yet out there. But the disappointment, so painfully evident in Ghanaian social media circles, will linger for a long time.
Similar errors and familiar outcomes
But the pain from Ghanaians with the relay team dates back to 1996. In the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta USA, Ghana’s relay team featuring Albert Agyemang, Eric Nkansah, Christian Nsiah, Emmanuel Tuffuor and Aziz Zakari did not start the final race due to an administrative error.
Four years later, in Sydney 2000, Kenneth Andam and Leo Myles Mills joined Nsiah and Zakari in round 1, but they did not finish their race.
The Commonwealth Games, was perhaps, the most painful to the athletes. The lineup initially had Sean Safo Antwi, Benjamin Azamati, Joseph Paul Amoah and Barnabas Aggerh for the semi-final.
But, Joseph Paul Amoah was set to compete in the 200m final and so administrators replaced him with Abdul-Rasheed Saminu for the anchor leg. This change was not communicated to organisers, resulting in a disqualification for Ghana despite finishing third with a time of 39.05s.
Credit: 3news
