A former national athlete and member of the Ghana Athletics Association, Dr. Andrew Owusu has said “the current Ghana Athletics Association’s goal is to maximize the potential of our athletes.”
Speaking on Thursday’s edition of Sports Night on Multi TV about the upcoming Ghana Grand Prix 2011, Dr. Andrew Owusu indicated that the one-day event was “to create the platform which is professional enough for athletes to compete.”
He bemoaned the fallen standards of the sport in the country, emphasizing that “Ghana has always under-performed. We have never really lived up to our potential.”
Thus with the dawn of this unique athletics event, the GAA is “hoping to let Ghanaians know that athletics is well and alive and also sending a message to other countries (and authorities) including the IAAF that Ghana is serious about athletics once more and hoping to put this competition on the map such that it becomes one of the premier events on the continent.”
About eight Ghanaian athletes including Ignatius Gaizah, Aziz Zakari, Margaret Simpson and Vida Anim are expected to participate in the Grand Prix.
Some international athletes include Tiana Madison from the US - former World Champion in the Women’s Long Jump, Terrel Wilks - a sprinter who just graduated from the University of Florida, Indira Spence from Jamaica and others from the African continent are expected to participate in the grand prix.
The former Africa Championship record holder in triple jump pointed out that the nature of the competition will give local athletes a platform they have never had before right here on their home grounds, “to enable them rub shoulders with our foreign based athletes and other international athletes from elsewhere; to raise the profile of athletics and attract more support for the sport.”
The maiden edition of the Ghana Grand Prix will take place at the Baba Yara stadium in Kumasi on August 6, 2011.