Two junior athletes are representing Ghana at the African Junior Athletics Championship in Cameroun.

The two,Robert Martey , a long jumper and Gad Boakye, a sprinter left for the Camerounian capital last Monday to compete in the event which will also be used for the African junior rankings. While Martey will compete in only the long jump, Boakye will run in both the 100 and 200 metres. They are being sponsored by the Africa Athletics Confederation (AAC).

Speaking in an interview with the Graphic Sports, Mr George Lutterodt, the chairman of the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) said only two athletes were sent to the junior championship because of financial constraints.

“What is more, the AAC which provided some sponsorship gave Ghana only two slots to the event so we could not have gone beyond that number without our own funding,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the national trials, aimed at selecting athletes for this year’s All Africa Games will take place next week in Kumasi. According to Mr Lutterodt, the event will select some local athletes to join the foreign-based ones who are able to make the competition times and marks.

An initial programme which should have brought both the local and foreign-based together to compete for places, was abandoned because of lack of facilities while a proposal for the competition to be held in Togo was also rejected by the National Sports Council.