Ghanaian 100m runner eager to qualify for World Athletics Championship

Kumasi, April 18, GNA - Ghanaian female 100m runner, Hor Halutie says she is eager to qualify for the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Athletics Championship to be held in London in August 2017.

At the third Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) National Circuit Championship held in Kumasi, Halutie clocked 11.57s in the 100m heats, which happens to be Ghana's second best time ever at that distance.

She however clocked 11.67 to win the final race.
The 18-year-old athlete needs to drop 0.31 seconds to qualify for the upcoming World Championship.

Hor, from the Ashanti Region, who beat off competition from GUSA's Idan Mensah, who ran 11.67 and Sandra Asibuo, said she is aiming to win Gold for Ghana at International competitions.

The second year student of Ahmadiya Senior High School (T.I Amass) told the GNA Sports that, though there are limited sports facilities and infrastructure in the country, she is determined to train hard to achieve her target.

She said 'Ghana now has few female athletes and when we go for international competitions we always struggle to beat the likes of Nigeria, Kenya and others. We failed to make the needed impact and I want to change that. My target is to work harder and win Gold medals for Ghana at international competitions.

The new sprint champion urged corporate bodies to support the discipline, saying that 'the problem athletes have is equipment for training, running shoes and others. Even the right diet for the athletes after training is a problem.'

Meanwhile Mathew Nantiere brushed off competition from the 2015 Milo Marathon winner, Malik Yakubu, to win the men's 5000m race. He clocked a time of 14:47s.

In other track and field events, Margaret Simpson came first with a throw of 11.77m in the Women's Shot Put final ahead of Joana Agyemang from the Ghana Police Service, who threw 11. 16m and Nature Alonyefia 9.91m.

Dorcas Opoku jumped 5.56m to beat Margaret Simpson and Latifa Ali in the Women's Long Jump category.

Elizabeth Azure from the Upper East Region won the 10,000 Women's final completing in a time of 36 minutes19.51 seconds

The next Athletics Circuit Championship is expected to take place at the Cape Coast Stadium, next Month.

GNA

By Edna A. Quansah, GNA