The 7th and final edition of the ‘Ghana’s Fastest Human’ (GFH) athletics talent hunt event has been launched in Accra with a call on organisers to continue with the good work being done.
Scheduled to end by close of this year, the athletics search event started in 2013 by ex-Ghanaian Olympian Reks Brobby, to search for the fastest male and female athletes in Ghana who by the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, will win a medal for Ghana.
It was disclosed that the event had lived up to the mettle as its protégés are the ones presently flying the flag of the country at regional, continental and international athletics meetings.
Addressing the launch, the Executive Secretary to the President of Ghana, Nana Bediatuo Asante, pleaded with the organisers to review the life span of the talent hunt event and continue with the good works as it holds the key to unlocking Ghana’s future success on the tracks.
“It cannot be denied that the GFH programme has given a major boost to the potential of Ghana returning to its glory days. The athletes from the programme have left a mark on the athletics history of the country. We will only remember those who emerge from thousands of competitors from the beginning and have upgraded and made a name for themselves and for their country at large.”
According to Nana Bediatuo Asante, the opportunity created by this programme “is there for all to see as it has given the proven winners scholarships both in Ghana and abroad for youth development which has also given a new lease of life to these athletes.”
He lauded the founder for his vision, determination and relentless pursuit of the objectives of the programme to ensure that Ghanaian youth gained the opportunities they needed to develop themselves and make their families and country proud.
In a speech read on his behalf by Dr Emmanuel Owusu Ansah, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah, noted that towards the realisation of the full potential of sports as a tool for individual and national development, he said his outfit had created a special unit to pursue an agenda of ensuring that sports in Ghana was managed in line with 21st century best practices and had requested this unit to place their scientific experts at the disposal of organisers of GFH.
“The ministry believes that if the efforts of the organisers are complemented with scientific principles and guidance, the project will achieve its desired goals of producing an Olympic medalist at future Olympic Games.”
The Corporate Affairs Manager of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Madam Cormen Bruce Annan, noted that her outfit was motivated by the principal objective of the GFH programme which is to unearth talents and nurture them to pluck an Olympic medal at the 2020 Olympic Games.
The annual championships held across the country, with the regions grouped into zones, will begin at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium, Tamale, on February 29, followed by the Cape Coast meet on March 14 with Accra taking its turn on May 23 at the University of Ghana, while the grand finale will be held at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, Kumasi, on June 20.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
