Amenakpor Urges Equal Support for Ghana’s Relay Team as Black Stars
Former Ghana Athletics coach, Elorm Amenakpor, has called for urgent investment in Ghana’s men’s 4x100m relay team, stressing that they deserve the same level of attention and resources as the Black Stars.
The quartet etched their names into history by setting a new national record of 37.79 seconds during their heat in Tokyo and went on to place fourth in the final at the World Athletics Championships.
Speaking to JoySports, Amenakpor emphasized the need for consistent backing from government and stakeholders to help the team transform near misses into podium finishes on the world stage.
“I have been saying that we really need to handle this team like the way we handle the Black Stars,” he said.
Highlighting how other nations prepare, Amenakpor pointed to the Dutch relay team that edged Ghana out of the bronze medal spot. “The relay is so open [to win a medal], best teams could drop batons. The team that beat us to the third position [The Netherlands] are always in camp every three months. There is something we call periodization in training programme planning and they [The Netherlands] are camped four times before a major championship.”
Ghana’s team — made up of Ibrahim Fuseini, Benjamin Azamati, Joseph Paul Amoah, and Abdul-Rasheed Saminu — narrowly missed out on a medal in the final, clocking 37.93 seconds, just 0.04 seconds shy of the bronze-winning Dutch side.
Amenakpor insists that with the right preparation framework and consistent training camps, Ghana has the potential to secure medals in future global competitions.
