Moscow, March 11, 2006 (GHP) - Ghana's Ignisious Gaisah won the Men's Long Jump gold at the 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships here today

Gaisah impressed with a jump of 8.30, beating Panama's Irving Saladino, who set an area record of 8.29 for silver and Andrew Howe(Italy), who took the bronze.

The 22-year-old has been in great form this year. He first clinched victory at the GE Galan in Stockholm with a 8.36m jump - the first time he has broken through the 8m-mark indoors - before winning again in Stuttgart with an 8.23m jump to his name.

With these wins, Gaisah overtook Miguel Pate of the US and moved into second place in the Men?s Long Jump Event Rankings. This was only the second time in the history of the IAAF World Rankings that an athlete from Ghana has ranked in such a high position, in any Event Ranking. His compatriot Aziz Zakari was ranked second in the 100m and also 22nd overall in 2005. Gaisah improved in the Men's Overall Rankings and moved into the Top-100, in 82nd place.

Gaisah?s avowed intention this year is to stabilise himself around the 8.30m-mark. He says he has improved his strength and speed with a view to jumping 8.50 later in the year.

His next goal is to win the Commonwealth games gold in Melborne which starts in 3 days time