Team Ghana finished second behind China in 38.09 seconds to claim the final automatic qualification spot for next year’s championships in Beijing, making it a fourth consecutive appearance at the World Athletics Championships.
However, the events preceding the feat have gained more traction than the fact.
‘‘The Ministry of Sports in Ghana needs to better, don’t set us for failure. If it was “black stars” flights tickets will be ready month prior to their game. 14hrs flight 16hrs lay over is not acceptable for professional athletes. We running with jet lag, no proper recovery.’’
The above tweet, authored by Abdul Rasheed Sameenu, has expectedly made the headlines.
Did Ibrahim Fuseini and Rasheed Sameenu miss their flights as has been disingenuously suggested?
Fuseini’s flight nightmare
On Tuesday, April 28th, four days before Ghana’s relay team was scheduled to run in Gaborone, Ghana’s Sports Ministry purchased and, through Ghana Athletics, presented Fuseini’s Economy (B) Class tickets to him after 16:00 hours.
Per the flight details, Fuseini was scheduled to take a 3-hour flight from Dallas to New York, then connect to Doha on Qatar Airways QR 730 at 7:30 PM.
The problem was that Fuseini is based in Commerce, Texas.
The distance from Commerce to Dallas is at least an hour’s drive.
His whereabouts were not unknown to Ghana’s Sports Ministry or its athletics governing body. He has been on scholarship at Texas A&M University.
Yet, despite having full knowledge of where the Fuseini was based, he was expected to, within a 3-hour notice, be on the flight to Dallas.
The flight was scheduled to leave the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at 7:30 PM and arrive at the Hamad International Airport in Doha, 15 hours later.
Then the next day, Wednesday, April 28, 2026, Fuseini was scheduled to join another Qatar Airways flight – QR 1365, at 8:35 PM, to Johannesburg. That would have been an 8-hour flight, with an arrival time of 04:00 AM on Thursday, April 30, 2026.
Fuseini’s last flight would have been with a South African Airways SA 030, scheduled for 6:50 PM, with a duration of 55 minutes.
From there, he would have connected to Johannesburg, South Africa, with an 8-hour flight, before continuing to Gaborone with a one-hour flight.
There were no accommodation arrangements to cover the combined 13-hour layoff occasioned by the hurriedly arranged punishment disguised as a plan.
Eventually, the flight was cancelled because Fuseini could not check in on time. Given the 3-hour notice and the distance from Commerce to Dallas, that should not have surprised anybody.
The Ministry then booked another flight, on April 30, 2026.
Remember, Ghana’s race was scheduled for 2nd May, 2026.
That Emirates EK 204 flight was scheduled to leave JFK Airport in New York at 11:20 AM, and arrive in Dubai at 8:50 AM on 1st May.
An hour after arrival, Fuseini was expected to be on the Emirates EK 763 at 9:55 AM, to arrive in Johannesburg at 4:45 PM.
Two hours later, he would have been on another flight to Gaborone, with the arrival time set at 7:00 PM.
Assuming he arrived at the projected time, Fuseini would have still missed the relay team’s only training session because he would not have been accredited to access any of the facilities in Gaborone.
In the end, the ticket was cancelled, but Edwin Gadayi, who replaced him, faced the same fate.
I will come to that story in a moment.
Benjamin Azamati was presented with a similar flight schedule, but he declined because of an injury he was carrying.
He would later receive another flight schedule 3hours before a flight that would have taken him (4 hours) to Atlanta, then 15hours to Johannesburg.
Just like Fuseini, the Ministry did not account for the 14-hour layover in South Africa.
Fortunately, Azamati’s sponsors, ON, paid for his hotel bills for the period, as they do not want any situation that would aggravate his injury before the race.
Both Azamati and Abdul Rasheed Sameenu were delayed at their airports because the airline staff was not aware that athletes did not require visas to get into Botswana.
By the time the situation was resolved, Sameenu had missed his flight and needed to be rescheduled.
Gadayi’s Ordeal
Misfortunes often present opportunities for others. Or career-ending traps disguised as opportunities.
The latter is what Gadayi found, but God remains the Greatest.
Gadayi was hastily summoned to replace Fuseini from his base in Kumasi.
No flight tickets.
Just an instruction to get on the next available bus to come to Accra.
On arriving in the capital, Gadayi realized Accra’s crazy traffic was no respecter of emergencies or, in his case, status as a national athlete.
With his flight two hours away, Gadayi got out of the public transport and hopped on a motorbike to get to the airport.
It was risky. It was desperate.
But in the end, that singular act is the reason Ghana was not disqualified from participating in the World Relays.
Per regulations, a full team of 4 athletes must be present to compete in the relay race itself.
Federations are allowed to enter a pool of up to six (or eight, depending on specific event regulations) athletes per team, from which any four can be chosen for the actual competition.
In the end, Gadayi got to Gaborone on Friday night, but could not train because he had to go for his accreditation, while Benjamin Azamati, Joseph Paul Amoah, and Abdul-Rasheed Sameenu trained.
Tactical complications
Gadayi’s late arrival and lack of training forced Ghana’s coach, John Bolton (Benjamin Azamati’s personal trainer and head coach at Swiss premium performance sportswear brand, ON), to change the plan.
Without training the baton changeovers and momentum, Gadayi could only race as Ghana’s anchor. Starting would have risked a slow take-off from the blocks.
As anchor, however, he was on his toes, and with the adrenaline and sense of urgency, he more than compensated for his lack of preparation.
So who is responsible for this mess?
Ghana Athletics and the Sports Ministry.
Per the Sports Ministry, Ghana Athletics only requested financial support in the final week of April. How?
Bawa Fuseini, president of Ghana Athletics, was busy on Monday morning, telling every radio station that cared to listen that this is how it has always been.
Yet, we know that these tournaments are regulated with strict timelines.
The World Relays set a deadline of 11 April 2026 for the initial squad updates, known as the pre-entry of teams.
A final date for submission of teams was also set for 13 April 2026.
At least two weeks before the tournament, teams are forced to settle on and submit their official team list.
That means Ghana knew, at least two weeks ago, who the relay team members were.
There can therefore be no excuses for here.
Ghana Athletics dropped the ball and should not have said anything beyond Sunday’s statement that accepted responsibility.
Sports Ministry
Six days before Christmas last year, Parliament gave its approval for the government to spend GH₵357 billion in the 2026 fiscal year, following the passage of the Appropriation Number Two Bill, 2025.
A further GH₵29.8 billion was to settle outstanding government arrears.
It is still not clear how much was allocated for Sports. But according to the Ministry, it set aside GH₵80 million for the various federations.
Of that amount, Ghana Athletics presented a program that required GH₵ 40 million.
In 2026, the World Relays, African Athletics Champions ( to be hosted by Ghana), and the Commonwealth Games, are the main events on the calendar, and per checks, featured in the program plan and budgetary request made to the government. It is based on that request, together with requests from other federations, that the Sports Ministry submitted its budget to the Finance Ministry and cabinet.
So while Ghana Athletics is responsible for the pre-tournament camp and associated items, the Ministry knew about the tournament and should have made money available long before then.
Had the Ministry made resources available, Ghana Athletics, which is perpetually cash-strapped, would not have had to request money to cover the cost of tickets.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com