Ghanaian sprinter Joseph Paul Amoah has expressed a mixture of satisfaction and disappointment following a dramatic 4x100m relay final at the African Games.
Despite a baton exchange mishap during the race, which narrowly cost Ghana a gold medal, Amoah and his team managed to avoid disqualification, securing a respectable silver medal.
Running the anchor leg, Amoah played a crucial role in Ghana’s performance, as the team finished just 0.02 seconds behind Nigeria, with a time of 38.41 seconds.
While Ghana fell short of their gold medal aspirations due to the baton exchange glitch, they still managed to outshine Liberia, who secured third place with a new national record of 38.73 seconds.
Reflecting on the race, Amoah expressed a mix of emotions, stating, “It’s a little bit sad. We wanted the fold we couldn’t get it but we will take silver. Our main focus was to try to get the baton around in the right zones. We had a little bit of a mishap on the last leg.”
“It happened yesterday, we wanted to polish it up but so many things can happen in a race. We’re just grateful that we didn’t get disqualified but we will take silver. It’s cool.”
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Looking ahead, Ghana remains optimistic about its prospects in Athletics, with all three male runners progressing to the semifinals and Janet Asante securing a place after winning her heat in the women’s 200m event.
With Ghana already securing three medals in Athletics, including a gold in high jump by Rose Yeboah and a bronze in the women’s 4x100m relay, there is hope for additional success in the remaining events.