Kofi Adams Calls for United African Bid to Host World Athletics Championships
Ghana’s Minister for Sports and Recreation, Kofi Iddie Adams, has urged the athletics community across Africa to unite behind a common ambition of bringing the World Athletics Championships to the continent.
Addressing delegates during the Confederation of African Athletics Council meeting held on Sunday at the African Regent Hotel in Accra, the minister appealed directly to Sebastian Coe and the global athletics leadership to consider Africa ready for the sport’s biggest championship event.
Adams emphasized the need for African nations to present a collective front when matters concerning the continent’s sporting future are discussed.
“We may have our athletes competing under individual national flags, but when we meet as a federation like this, I want us to speak with one voice,” Adams told delegates.
The minister argued that Africa’s recent success in organizing major athletics competitions demonstrates the continent’s growing capability to stage events at the highest level. He referenced the successful hosting of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Kenya, the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Uganda, and the recent World Athletics Relays staged in Botswana.
“Listening to the President of World Athletics and having given opportunity to Africa to host the U-20 competition in the past, it will give us indication that, with just a minimal federal support, Africa is ready to host the World Championship,” he said.
Adams further assured the athletics fraternity that any African nation selected to host the championship would receive support from countries across the continent.
“I can assure you, we are prepared as individual countries in the continent to support any African country that is given the opportunity to host the World Championship. We will not leave that country alone. We will join hands with that country to have a successful event that will go in history as an event that has never really been organized by any country before,” he said.
Beyond hosting ambitions, the Sports Minister stressed that the campaign should also serve as a catalyst for improving sporting infrastructure and strengthening collaboration among African nations within international athletics circles.
