Benjamin Azamati and Sean Safo-Antwi are in the reckoning for a place in the 100m final of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games
Albeit making a dawdling start, Azamati still gathered enough oomph and obsession yesterday to power into the semi-finals, deservedly placing first in Heat 7.
The Ghanaian famed athlete recorded a somewhat comfortable 10.19secs win to book a place alongside Welsh sprinter Jeremiah Azu in today’s potentially-absorbing race that is expected to be held at 6.10 pm.
Safo-Antwi, on the other hand, finished 4th in heat 10, but qualified as one of the fastest losers – after running 10.33secs.
Azamati placed a distance fifth in the semi-final of the 100m at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, last month – and thus failed to make the final cut.
He apologised for the let-down and promised to make amends in the Commonwealth Games by winning a medal.
“It’s quite disappointing. I had good feelings coming into the competition to be able to qualify to the next stage, progress and possibly win something for my country, but it didn’t go as planned.
“I think my body had other things to do but I might just have to learn from whatever happened today. I still have the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to go so I think I’m going to look back at whatever I did today, correct my mistakes and moving forward, I’m going to do well.”
Having clinched gold at the WANDA Diamond League in Paris two months ago, Azamati appears to be in sprightly mood ahead of this evening’s semi-final showdown.
The national record holder has the third best time in the heats after Jamaica’s Bailey-Cole Kemar (10.15sec) and Antigua’s Greene Cejhae (10.16sec) and has been tipped to grab a silverware this evening.
The 100m grand final will take place at 8.pm tonight, barely two hours after the semis.
Azamati finished fourth in Heat 6 of the recently-ended World Athletics Championship in Oregon, USA, where he run alongside Olympic champion, Andre de Grasse as well as Christian Coleman.
Though he recorded a time of 10.18secs, he still failed to book a place in the semis.
BY JOHN VIGAH
