200m national record holder, James Dadzie has raised concerns about the timing of next year’s African Games.
According to Dadzie, hosting the Games, which will be the 13th in its history, in March could hinder Ghana’s ability to get some of the country’s foreign-based sprinters to come and compete.
In an interview with Citi Sports he explained that most of Ghana’s best sprinters are schooling in the United States of America, and next year’s competition could disrupt their academic calendars.
The 22-year-old athlete has called on stakeholders to take the necessary steps to ensure the country’s best sprinters will be able to keep up with their classes while representing Ghana at the Games.
“We are here [United States of America] on track and field scholarships, and getting to February and March, we would be running indoors as it would be winter here and very cold.”
“For them to release us, is another problem. The organisers need to deal with the institution on that, as well as the management and the coaching staff, so they release us.”
“Moreover they need to take precautions for us so that we can work while we are in camp in Ghana, so we can keep up with our academic work. We can’t leave our academic work for three weeks and be away.”
“Every day, we have something to do in the United States. As far as academics is concerned, if you fail a class, you cannot run tracks for the whole season.”
“You need to make sure you are always putting in your best. So we are urging Ghanaian leaders to make sure that they put measures in place, otherwise we can’t make it.”
James Dadzie, who is currently at the Western Texas College, set a new national record in the men’s 200m race with a sizzling time of 19.79s (+1.3m/s) run at the Crofoot Shootout in Lubbock, Texas back in April 2023.
Dadzie’s new time meant broke Joseph Paul Amoah’s record of 20.08 seconds which was set in 2019. This also meant he became the first-ever Ghanaian to race under 20 seconds in the men’s 200m sprints.
The Local Organising Committee of the 2023 African Games announced that the 13th edition of the event will come off between March 8-23, 2024.
This comes after a decision was taken to postpone the games which were originally slated to take place from August 4-19 2023.
The new date for the Games was revealed during a press conference held by the Local Organizing Committee, following the conclusion of a two-day inspection by the Africa Union Sports Council.
