Ghana athletes fail to make Olympic grade

The second edition of the Ghana International Grand Prix came to a successful end with Ghanaian athletes failing to make the qualifying mark for the London 2012 Olympic games.

With three Ghanaians in Ignatius Gaisah(Long Jump), Vida Anim(100m & 200m) and Margaret Simpson(Heptathlon) already securing their Olympic tickets, the focus of the Grand Prix fell on the likes of Tim Owusu-Abeyie, Laryea Akrong and Ashad (100&200m), John Ampomah (Javelin) and Sellassie Lumax (800m) to make the Olympic team.

Abeyie's time of 10.82 in the final of the 100m which was only good enough for 8th position set the tone for the Ghanaian Olympic aspirants as they failed to meet the qualifying times.

Sellassie Lumax posted an impressive 1.51.18 to win the men's 800m but again, his qualifying mark was simply not good enough. Ampomah set a National Record and a seasons best of 73.96 in the men's javelin but was well short of the 80m mark needed to secure his ticket to London.

Laryea Akrong, Ashad and Abeyie then took their hopes to the men's 200m competition but again their respective qualifying times was simply well short of Olympic standards.

Ignatius Gaisah though did put some smiles on the face of the Ghanaian crowd when he set a seasons best jump of 8.04m to win the Mens Long Jump competition. This would surely go a long way to boost his confidence as he lines up against the best in the sport in just under three weeks time.

Abiola Onakoya who looked very confident ahead of his race won the men's 400m with a winning time of 45.99 from as very challenging lane 8.

U.S born Ghanaian Lumax Sellasie won the mens 800m in a time of 1.51.18 but his qualifying mark was not good enough to qualify him for London.

There were some crazy scenes with the men's 100m final. After an unprecedented four false starts, the race finally went ahead with Nigerian Duroteye Adoteye winning in a very slow time of 10.45m.

His compatriot Damola Osayemi made it a double for the Nigerians in the blue ribbon events by winning the ladies 100m in a time of 11.44.

Eastern Africans have long dominated the long distance events thus it was not surprising to see Ugandan Ben Siwa winning the men's 3000m in a time of 8.14secs.

Sarah Nambara also won the ladies triple jump event with a leap of 13.12m.Liberian Kuo Logan won the ladies 400m hurdles in a very slow time of 1.00.15.

American born Nigerian Nurudeem Selim won the men's 110m hurdles in a time of 13.82 while Shericka Ward of the United States just about held off strong competition from her opponents in winning the ladies 100m event by 100th of a second with a time of 13.34.

On a day when some Ghanaian athletes were looking forward to qualifying for London 2012, Ghanaians would be left reeling as only four of our athletes including Abdul Aziz Zakari have qualified to compete in London so far.