High Jump : Regina Yeboah for African Championships

High jumper, Regina Yeboah, last Saturday, became the second locally-based athlete to qualify for the 2016 African Athletics Championships after clearing a height of 1.76 metres at the third edition of the Ghana Athletics Association Championship held at the El-Wak Stadium.

Regina joins fellow high jumper, Nana Yaa Abigail Kwarteng, to qualify for the championship slated for Durban, South Africa in July. 

All other participants in the Open Championship left the El Wak stadium in disappointment as they failed to meet the qualifying standards for the 2016 Olympic Games  and  the African  Athletics Championships .

Some of the student athletes at the event attributed their average performances to the lack of preparations as a result of the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) while others blamed the poor nature of the tartan tracks as well as the blistering heat.

Derzu Ralio won the mens’ 800 metres clocking a time of 1:53.75 seconds which fell short of the 1:46.00 seconds required to gain entry into the 2016 Olympics. He finished ahead of Evans Yakanu (1:54.40 seconds) and Joseph Yin (1:55.39 seconds).

Only two javelin throwers turned up for that event which was won by the Ghana Armed Forces Benjamin Numo who was able to beat Cyril Akonor by (57.21 metres) to  (46.48 metres) but fell short of the 71.99 metres mark required to qualify for the African Championships.