Athletes on their marks! …as athletics roars off today at Paris 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games fans will shift their attention to the tracks at the Stade de France Stadium from today where the kings and queens of athletics showcase their speed, endurance, willpower, and prowess to challenge existing world records to irk their name in gold.
Ghana, a regular since debuting at the 1952 Helsinki Games, has seen its athletes struggle for honours on the tracks till date.
Beginning today, Ghana’s duo of men’s 100-metre record holders, Benjamin KwakuAzamati and Abdul Rasheed Samanu, will start the quest to win for Ghana that elusive medal on the tracks when they line up against the best.
Azamati, who is competing at his second Olympics, will step onto the tracks with the likes of defending Olympic Games gold medalist, Lamont Marcell Jacobs, world championship gold medalist, Noah Lyles, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, Botswana’s LetsileTebogo, Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, and South Africa’s Benjamin Richardson, among others.
Azamati’s fastest time of the season, 10.05 seconds (+1.0 wind), falls outside the top 10 fastest times heading into today’s heats.
However, chieftains of the sport believe that a lot of things go into winning a race, some of which Azamati must get right, including mother luck.
Also on the tracks today will be first-timer, Abdul-Rasheed Saminu, who will be making his Olympic debut in the men’s 200-metre event.
The 22-year-old sprinter from the University of South Florida clocked an impressive 20.12 seconds in the 200 metres at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
Having recently anchored Ghana’s relay team to win gold at the African Athletics Championships in Douala, many believe Saminu will not be overawed by the moment.
Also in action today will be swimmer,Joselle Alice Mensah, who will compete in the women’s 50-metre freestyle in Heat 6.
The quartet of Azamati, Joseph Paul Amoah, Fuseini Ibrahim, and Isaac Botsio will take their turn on the track on August 8 in round one of the 4x100m relay.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
Entertainment
Redeemed Baptist Church congratulates trio
Three members of the Redeemed Baptist Church in Ogbojo – Emerita Professor Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf, Mrs Florence Mangwe Hutchful and Mrs Comfort Owusu, were among 22 award recipients for their exceptional contribution to national development at the 10th Ghana Women of Excellence Awards ceremony held in Accra.
The trio were recognised for their exceptional performances in their respective field of endeavours.
Emerita Ardayfio-Schandorf is a seasoned geographer and Chairperson of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Mrs Hutchful comes in as the first President of the Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management, Ghana and Mrs Owusu as the Executive Director of the Association of Rural Banks (ARB) Ghana.
The awards, held on the eve of the International Women’s Day, is a component of Ghana’s observation of the Day which was under the theme ‘Empowering the Ghanaian woman for National Development.”
The clergy and congregation of the Redeemed Baptist Church says Ayekoo to the award winners.
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Source;foods.com
