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...Eric Nkansah backs Prof. Dodoo

...Eric Nkansah backs Prof. Dodoo

Former national athlete, Eric Nkansah, says Prof. Francis Dodoo deserves another term to execute his plans for Ghana athletics.

Prof. Dodoo is locked in a straight fight with former Ghana athletics chief, Mr George Lutterodt, as congress of Ghana athletics elects its next chairman on Saturday for a four-year mandate.

But ahead of Saturday’s highly-anticipated contest, retired sprinter Nkansah said Prof. Dodoo’s regime was characterised by a difficult time for Ghana sports, and that he deserved a chance to implement his brilliant ideas to the full.

“It is not about the personality leading Ghana athletics,” he told Graphic Sports from his base in Germany. “It is about lifting Ghana athletics to new heights.”

He said seeming difference between the regimes of the two aspirants is found in the talent pool under their respective watch.

“During Mr Lutterodt’s time, Ghana had a lot of world class athletes. He was lucky to have the likes of Leo Myles Mills, Christian Nsiah and myself during the time. I don’t think officialdom had anything to do with our development and talent at the time,” he said.

“During Prof. Dodoo’s regime, the best of talent such as Margaret Simpson, Ignisious Gaisah, Aziz Zakari and Vida Anim were all at the twilight of their careers,.”

He said there were times in the past when athletes had to camp for international events at their own expense, insisting that “officials did not look like they cared about us”.

He recalled a camping base he, Nsiah and Myles Mills set up in Germany to prepare for the 2003 All Africa Games, and said it was a sacrifice that was not occasioned by prodding from an official.

He, however, urged Prof. Dodoo to be more open to other ideas, naming particularly Mr Lutterodt and another former athletics chairman, Sandy Osei Agyemang, as persons whose experiences could help improve the lot of Ghana athletics.

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