Ghana's 4x100m relay team drops baton at World Relays, gets chance to make amends tonight
Ghana's 4x100m relay team failed to grab the opportunity to book a ticket to the Paris Olympic Games after the team dropped the baton and were disqualified in Heat One at the 2024 World Athletics Relays in Bahamas.
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The incident placed Team Ghana's Paris Olympic Games qualification in a balance although they have one more opportunity to make amends in the Heat Two of the qualifying series tonight.
On the opening day, quotas were on offer to the top two teams in each heat in every relay event but an ineffective change over between Isaac Botsio and Benjamin Azamati led to the dropping of the baton and its attendant disqualification.
Last Saturday, the quartet of Joseph Paul Amoah, Isaac Botsio, Ibrahim Fuseini and Benjamin Azamati competed in Heat One alongside their counterparts from the United States, Brazil, Italy, Korea, Bahamas and Liberia.
However, their hope of securing a ticket to the Paris Olympics in Heat One was thwarted after dropping the baton.
Team Ghana will take on Nigeria, Korea, Netherlands in Heat Two of the second Olympic qualifying round where the first two top teams will pick automatic slots to the Paris Olympics.
Meanwhile, the first eight teams to have qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in each of the five disciplines being contested at the World Athletics Relays in Bahamas have been confirmed following the opening day of competition last Saturday in Nassau.
Fourteen teams in the women’s and men’s 4x100m and 4x400m plus the mixed 4x400m will automatically qualify for places at the Paris Olympics.
As at the time of going to press, three nations – France, Great Britain, Northern Ireland and USA have each qualified four teams for Paris, while another three – Canada, Italy and Poland – qualified three each.