Nkegbe, Maclean win 4 gold in US but fail to qualify for Rio Games

Ghana on Sunday scooped four gold medals at the wheelchair racing competition in the USA but failed to pick up slots for the Paralympic Games slated for Rio in Brazil later this year.

The two athletes, Botsyo Nkegbe and Maclean Atsu Dzidzienyo who participated in the Desert Challenge IPC grand prix in the USA failed to meet the required time needed to qualify them for the competition. 

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the obviously disappointed Nkegbe said they would return home to prepare for other competitions ahead.

Nkegbe who doubles as a coach and athlete and was chasing his fourth appearance in the Paralympics, won gold in the qualfier in the 200m T54 category finishing with a time of 27; 28 seconds and also finished the 400m with a time of 52.95 seconds.

Unfortunately, with his three gold medals, Maclean could also not qualify for any of the competitions.  He grabbed gold in 100m, 200m and 400m with a time of 16.26 seconds, 28.64 and 54.71 seconds respectively in the T53 categories.

He said the time still fell within the B-standard of qualification and fell below what was required for the Rio qualification but expressed the hope they could work hard and improve on their time.

The three- time paralympian explained that they needed the A-standard qualification to enable them, participate in the Rio Games.