Ghana relay team qualifies for Paris 2024
Ghana’s 4x100m men’s relay team punched their ticket to this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris after winning Heat 2 on Day 2 of the World Relays held in the Bahamas.
The quartet made up of Ibrahim Fuseini, Isaac Botsio, Benjamin Azamati, and Joseph Paul Amoah made sure of qualification after the latter crossed the finishing line in a time of 38.29s, running a season best to book automatic qualification for the 33rd Olympiad.
Showcasing resilience and good team chemistry this time around, Fuseini got off the blocks to a perfect start, running a time of 10.69s before a perfect baton changeover to Isaac Botsio, who did his run in a time of 9.13s.
Ghana’s 100m record holder, Benjamin Azamati, then took over the third leg, running a time of 9.35s before handing over to Amoah, who did 9.12s to storm to victory at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau.
Having endured a disappointing night on the opening day of the competition after dropping their baton, the Ghanaians were presented with a second chance to make up for the earlier mishap, and they took that opportunity with both hands.
The victory was made sweet for Team Ghana as they fended off a stiff challenge from perennial rivals, Nigeria, whom they lost their
African Games gold to at the recent Accra Games.
For a moment, the rivalry was put on the back burner as both Ghana and Nigeria could not hide their joy, coming together to celebrate their qualification.
The 4x100m men’s relay team thus became the first discipline to qualify for the Games.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
