Bawa Fuseini, the General-Secretary of the Ghana Athletics Association has disclosed the ‘great negative’ impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on athletics in the country.

According to Bawa, the GAA’s calendar has been thrown into state of disarray due to the pandemic.

Aside the preparations for the Olympics which has taken a hit, Bawa Fuseini said that a number of activities lined up by the association have also been postponed indefinitely.

He also indicated the pandemic will have an impact on their revenue targets for the year.

“The virus has impacted on the association greatly. Not only the association but also on the athletes and our programs. We were preparing our athletes for the Olympic Games and Africa Championship, Africa Cross Country among others. We have a lot of companies that we were talking to but all these things have not been fruitful because of the virus”.

“It has affected our preparations, financially and administratively because we could not go to the office and were working from home which was difficult. But we are making do what is we have and hoping that it will go soon”.

Bawa Fuseini also revealed how athletes based in the country have been dealing with the pandemic. He noted that the GAA is in constant consultations with the athletes and monitoring their activities.

“It has hit them hardly because most of the facilities are public facilities. All the facilities were closed down so they could not go out to train. Most of them were doing indoor training or jogging or what we call hilling and that one alone cannot prepare athletes; it can only keep them fit. We talk to them, engage them with their coaches and tell them to keep fit.

On the foreign-based athletes, Bawa said “They are doing good even though they are not in school now. Most of them have gone to Tennessee to live with Dr Andrew Owusu. Some are based in their respective areas but they are also training,” he said.

He, however, stated that despite these hardships, the GAA will not petition the government to remove restrictions on social gathering.

He reasoned that the association will wait on government to make such a move when it deems fit.