Ghana wins more medals at African Youth Games

Ghana won two more medals on Day 8 of the ongoing African Youth Games in Gaborone Botswana after sprinter Janet Mensah and Martha Bissah won silver and bronze medals in the girl’s 100m final and 800m final respectively.

Team Ghana has thus won four medals at the Games after Juliana Arkoh and Christian Amoah won medals in the weightlifting competition.

Having run the second fastest time in the 100m heats a day earlier, Janet Mensah confirmed her status as one of the best youth sprinters on the African continent, winning second place in a hotly contested girl’s 100m final in a time of 12.03 secs.

The T. I. Ahmadiya student’s time was 3 hundredths of a second behind Nigeria’s Mercy Ntia-Obong who clocked 12.00 to take gold while Togo’s Prenam Pesse won the bronze medal in a time of 12.34.

By far the race was one of the most keenly contested in the athletics competition with Janet at par with her Nigerian counterparts for the first 50m before the Nigerian pulled clear to win.

Janet has her eyes firmly set on the 200m event which starts today.

Girl’s 100m Final

Mercy Ntia-Obong    Nigeria   12.00
Janet Mensah            Ghana    12.03
Prenam Pesse            Togo       12.34

 

Elsewhere, Martha Bissah had to dig deep into her reserves to grab a bronze medal in the girl’s 800m final, crossing the finish line in 2.09.50 secs behind an Ethiopian and a Kenyan.

After making an initial good start, Martha dropped to fifth place after the first 300m before staging a strong comeback to outpace Botswana’s Thandi Uerimuna to claim third, behind Ethiopia’s Hawi Alemu Negeri and Kenya’s Agnes Ngovi who finished in a time of 2.06.74 and 2.08.00 respectively.

Girl’s 800m Final

Hawi Alemu Negeri   Ethiopia   2.06.74
Agnes Ngovi               Kenya      2.08.00
Martha Bissah           Ghana      2.09.50

Ghana’s Felicia Frimpong put up a spirited performance to place fourth in the girl’s long jump event after jumping 5.59m in her last attempt.

Competing in her first major international event just like many of her colleagues, Felicia dug deep into her reserves to make that last ditch attempt at winning a medal.

Even though it was not enough to win her a medal, she showed a strong character that is likely to stand her in a good stead to compete for laurels at the highest level in the future.

The event was won by Esraa Owis with a jump of 5.95m followed by South Africa’s Carla Johnson with 5.72m.

 

Girl’s Long Jump

Esraa Owis                    Egypt                      5.95m

Carla Johnson               South Africa   5.72m

Ugada Nyebolo Aga     Ethiopia           5.67m

Felicia Frimpong           Ghana             5.59m

 

Cycling

Frank Akuffo and many other cyclists pulled out of the Road Race event following a major accident a few kilometres after the race had started.

Day 9 Preview

The athletics competition will continue on Day 9 of the African Youth Games with as many as five Ghanaian athletes expected to compete.

Ghana’s Janet Mensah is expected to compete in the girl’s 200m heats as well as Godfred Kofitsey in the boy’s 200m heats while Precious Attipoe will take part in the boy’s triple jump.

Anastasia Mensah opens her account in the girl’s javelin throw event while Abigail Kwarteng takes part in the girl’s High Jump event.

Janet Mensah- 200m heats

Godfred Kofitsey-200m heats

Precious Attipoe-Boy’s Triple Jump Final

Anastasia Mensah – Javelin Final

Abigail Kwarteng- High Jump

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