Track & Field News of Wednesday, 12 August 2015
Source: myjoyonline.com
Martha Bissah
Ghana will miss the services of promising athlete Martha Bissah at next month’s All Africa Games.
Bissah, who won gold at last year’s Youth Olympics in China was unable to run the required time for the 800m and 1500m events.
This is certainly worrying for Ghana Athletics as this could turn out to be a major setback in the prodigy’s growth.
Erasmus Kwaw, spokesperson of the Ghana Athletics Association, disclosed this to Joy Sports in an interview after the national qualifiers for the continental multi sport event.
”Martha wasn’t able to met the standards, the 800 meters which is her race. She was expected to do A standard 02 or B standard 04 for developmental purposes.”
”But the best she could do this year was 2m 08s at the open championship in Kumasi, which clearly does not meet the criteria set by the GAA.”
“The 1500 m which won in the overall circuit she did 4m 38s which fall short of the 4m 05s or 4m 01s to qualify her to the all Africa games.”
It will be recalled that the Athletics Association predicted that Bissah may fail to qualify for the Games in Congo-Brazzaville.
The GAA also reacted to claims by Martha’s manager that she had been neglected after her feat in China, insisting that the reaction had been premature.
Rumour is rife within sporting circles that the teenager is contemplating a nationality switch. Analysts say that all these issues seemed to have factored in the young talent’s inability to qualify for Congo 2015.
Prior to the final National Circuit Championships held in Tamale, Martha had run 2m 12 seconds in the 800m in Accra.
Her best time for this year stands at 2m 08s, which fell short of her astonishing run 2m 04s gold-winning feat in Nanjing.
Meanwhile the athletics governing body is waiting on sponsorship from Ghana’s corporate entities to release funds for their preparation with a few weeks to the multisport event.
The 11th African Games are scheduled for September 4–19, 2015 in Brazzaville, Congo.