Ghana's junior sprint queen ready to soar higher

Accra, March 13, GNA - Esther Dankwah, Ghana's one time sprint queen at the junior level is yearning to anchor the national athletics team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Currently schooling in Den Haag, Holland, Esther rules in the 60, 100 and 200 metres but would need to improve on her time of 11:56 (in the 100 metres) to move up in her rankings. She is ranked 79 by the International Amateur Athletic Association (IAAF) in the world but she is of the conviction that by the close of the year "I must be among the best 20 in the world."

A product of the Emit Commercial in Accra, Esther and Ethel Lokko now based in Germany, were then the "must-watch" athletes and were simply too hot for their fellow competitors to handle. Esther told the GNA Sports on her arrival on Friday after four years in a foreign land that she was into full scale professional athletics and expressed the hope of using her experience to benefit Ghana.

A member of the famous Haag Athletic track team in Holland, the 23 year-old Ghanaian was the African junior champion in 1999 when she anchored the 4 X 400 metres relay team to win gold. And in the same year, she was part of the 4 X100 relay team that won silver. Last year, she also won the Netherlands indoor race in the 60 metres and placed second and third respectively in the 100 and 200 metres. A training partner of Dutch soccer star Edgar Davis during off soccer seasons, Esther says she is ready to soar and to take on the World.