Ghana’s men’s 4x100m relay team has been disqualified from the finals despite finishing third with a time of 39.05s at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
It was due to a failure on the part of team Ghana to inform officials about a change of athlete one hour before the semi-final event.
The team comprises Sean Safo-Antwi, Benjamin Azamati, Barnabas Aggerh, and Abdul Rasheed Saminu finished the race behind Nigeria and Kenya.
Sean Safo-Antwi started the race and handed the baton over to Benjamin Azamati who passed it on to Barnabas Aggerh before Abdul Rasheed Saminu finished the race to give Ghana a place in the final.
But unfortunate for the team, they have been stripped from the third position which means they will not compete in the finals.
This was after organisers of the Commonwealth Games disqualified Ghana because they did not list Abdul-Rasheed Saminu as the anchor leg runner.
Reports indicate the Ghanaian team initially listed Joseph Paul Amoah but the Ghana Athletics Association opted to replace him with Barnabas Aggerh because Joe Paul was going to compete in the men’s 200m finals.
Rules of the competition:
The composition of a team and the order of running for a relay shall be officially declared no later than one hour before the published first call time (the time by which the athlete must be present in the call room) for the first heat of each round of the competition. Further alterations must be verified by a medical officer appointed by the organisers and may be made only until the final call time (the time at which the athletes are listed to depart the call room) for the particular heat in which the team is competing.
The team shall compete as named and in the declared order.
If a team does not follow this rule, it shall be disqualified.
