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Professor Francis Dodoo  — president of GAA.
Professor Francis Dodoo — president of GAA.

Confusion rocks GAA over Ghana’s failure to participate in IAAF World Relay

Ghana’s female relay team failed to make it to the IAAF World Relay Championship slated for Bahamas this weekend following the association’s failure to raise a paltry $20,000. for the trip.

Team Ghana is ranked 11th on the continent and was expected to battle other 42 African countries in Nassau, Bahamas, in a qualification competition for the London World Championships in August this year.

But in a shocking U-turn, the press attache to the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA), Erasmus Kwaw, told the Graphic Sports yesterday that Ghana would not be in Bahamas due to lack of funds.

 “It is lack of funds. We don’t have $20,000 to fund the trip and other itinerary needed for the competition”, he told this paper yesterday.

However, in an interesting twist, the Secretary of the GAA, Philipina Frimpong, also disclosed to the Graphic Sports that the team could not make the trip due to the unavailability of athletes.

 “We didn’t have a full set of athletes. They were not given permission by their coaches to go and run”, she stated.

Madam Philipina dismissed the notion that there were no funds, saying that funding could not be an issue in this situation.

She noted that IAAF programmes are pre-funded and therefore needed no funding from participating countries.

This year’s event comprises five relay disciplines: 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m and 4x800m for both men and women, and a mixed 4x400m which will cap the two-day competition.

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