A former athletics chief George Haldane Lutterodt has lauded the stellar performances by Ghanaian athletes at the just ended Tokyo 2020 despite the minimal financial support and investment.

He praised the zeal of the athletes to fight for the nation although they lacked the required equipment, kits, items, trainers and funds.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, he noted that the team could have achieved better with better management and organisation.

“I would like to congratulate all the athletes for their yeoman’s performance despite their struggle to fight for the country and the refusal of the state to develop sports except football,” he stated.

He urged the Minister for Youth and Sports to institute a probe into the reason behind Ghana Athletics not fielding a male athlete in the field event and a female athlete in the track event.

He questioned the rationale behind why no Ghanaian male athlete competed in the field event and no female challenged for medal on the track.

“This is a huge failure on the part of the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) and the leadership and we must look into that,” he noted.

The sports financier and benefactor of Martha Bissah also tasked the sector Minister to probe Ghana’s successive disqualifications in recent relay events.

“At the world relays final we were disqualified, and at the Tokyo Olympics too we were disqualified. This is not good,” he stated.

He urged the Minister to set up a committee to find best the possible ways to move Ghana Athletics forward.

Mr Lutterodt wants the National Sports Authority to re-assign Bawa Fuseini into another sporting endeavour and find a replacement for him as soon as possible.

“How can one person be at the helm of a sport as a secretary general for almost a decade with no better results? This must change,” he noted.