2022 CWG: Sports Minister demands report on Ghana’s disqualification

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, is demanding an explanation from Ghana’s International Games Committee and Chef De Mission for the disqualification of the men’s 4×100m quartet.

This comes after a quartet of Benjamin Azamati, Sean Sarfo-Antwi, Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, and Barnabas Agerh finished third with a national record time of 39.05s in Heat 1 of the 4x100m relays.

However, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) disqualified Team Ghana over what was described as technical violation.

The technical violation denied Ghana a place in the final and the team was replaced with Gambia.

Reacting to this in a Facebook post, the Sports Minister said, “On the earlier faux pas [of] 4×100 final race disqualification, I’ve asked the International Games Committee and the Chef de Mission to provide an exclusive report to my office about that incident”.

Meanwhile the Ghana Athletics Association has rendered an ‘unqualified’ apology to Ghana’s men’s 4×100 meter relay team.

“GAA would like to first render an unqualified and heartfelt apology to the men’s 4X100m for the technical oversight that led to the disqualification of the team from the final of the 4X100m relay after comfortably placing 3rd overall in the semi-final. We also apologize to the many fans of Ghana Athletics around the world, and to the entire nation, we extend our sincere apology.

“Indeed, we are all heartbroken given that the men’s 4X100m and coaches have successfully participated in many international events over the past few years; including a 5th place global ranking 14 days ago at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon (USA).”