According to rumors on Wednesday, the relay team who competed in the World Athletics Championships in Oregon won’t be participating in the Commonwealth Games due to reports that their visa requests have been rejected.
The CEO of the Ghana Athletics Association, Bawah Fuseini, claims that media reports claiming that several Ghanaian athletes have been denied entry to the Commonwealth Games 2022 are untrue and should be disregarded.
On July 28, 2022, the Commonwealth Games will begin, a total of 14 athletes will compete in seven different sports, with the bulk taking part in sprints, as stated in the Ghana Athletics Association’s announcement from last month.
In a video message to a renowned athletic media person, Muftawu Anabila of Joy FM on the Nabila Show on YouTube, the C.E.O of the Ghana Athletics Association, cleared the air on media rumors of athletics being denied visas for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
In a video from Birmingham, Bawah welcomed Muftawu and was ready to respond to rumors spreading throughout Ghana.
“Let me state this categorically clear; no Ghanaian athlete was or has been denied any visa, Manu was not entered for games for personal reasons, Hor [Halutie], Latifa Ali, and Deborah [Acquah] are still waiting for their visa applications. They are still within the 15 working days to get their visas and today is the 15th day. I repeat that no Ghanaian athlete has been refused [a] visa.”
The CEO stated that there is no information from the US Embassy on a Ghanaian athlete in order to further demonstrate a point for stakeholders to refute such allegations in Ghanaian media circles.
Bawah stated, “No information has come from the embassy in the US here that one or more athletes have been denied visas. Today, Alex (Amankwah) got his visa, and Joe Paul (Joseph Paul Amoah) also got his visa yesterday and they will be departing the US today to Birmingham.”
He gave a list of athletes headed to Birmingham before the start of the Commonwealth Games at the end of the video, he said, “Azamati is on his way, Abigail [Kwarteng] is also on her way [to Birmingham]. Ignore reports that Ghanaian athletes have been denied visas to travel to the Commonwealth Games. It is entirely false!”
