Ghana's Atsu qualifies for Youth Olympics

Accra, June 6, GNA - Ghana's youth triple jumper, Nyamedi Atsu won the only Gold medal for Ghana at the Zone 2 Africa Youth Olympic Qualifier in Dakar, Senegal.

Following his feat Atsu has been declared the number one triple jumper in Africa at the youth (Under-17) level and will represent Africa as the sole triple jumper at the Youth Olympics at Singapore later this year. Other Ghanaian athletes are making the nation proud in the international athletics arena in the last couple of weeks with Atsu's teammates to the Zone 2 Qualifier getting 11 medals at the event. Bawah Fuseini, Secretary General of the Ghana Athletics Association in a press release to GNA Sports at the week-end said the past week also saw veteran jumper, Ignatius Gaisah, Robert Martey and David Zigah all making Ghana proud.


The Ghanaian long jump record holder, Gaisah, who has been bedevilled by injuries, continued with his steady comeback with a strong performance of 8.09 meters to place third in an international meet in Hengelo, Holland. This is his best jump since he got injured some couple of years ago. Robert Martey, currently the number one long jumper on the local scene also won gold in the Congo Brazzaville grand prix meet with a jump of 7.51 meters.

David Ziga, the leading marathon runner in the country added to his string of local and international victories by winning the Ouagadougou International Marathon in Burkina Faso over the week end. Fuseini the international successes come as Ghanaian athletes prepare to participate in the African Senior Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya at the end of July, the World Junior Athletics Championship in Moncton, Canada in the middle of July, which would be preceded by an Africa Zone 2 Junior competition in Nigeria), the Youth Olympics in Singapore in the middle of August, and the Commonwealth Games in India in October. Meanwhile Bawah Fuseini has been confirmed as the Secretary General of the Ghana Athletics Association by the Chief Executive of the National Sports Council, with effect from Thursday 3rd June 2010.