Rio 2016: Alex Amankwah continues Ghana's poor run

Alex Amankwah failed to progress in the men’s 800 metres race after placing seventh in the heats on Friday in Brazil.

Amankwah who was the first Ghanaian to qualify for the Olympics started brilliantly and occupied the fourth position for a moment before fading badly towards the end of the race.

He finished behind six other runners in Heat 6, after Moroccan Abdelati El Guesse got injured. Amankwah was unable to match his season's best after recording a time of 1:50.33. 

Amankwah became the fifth Ghanaian athlete to exit the Olympics after swimmers Kaya Forson and Abeiku Jackson, judoka Szandra Szogedi and boxer Abdul Wahid Omar all failed to progress in their respective competitions.

Brandon McBride (Canada) won the race in a time of 1:45.99 while Marcin Lewandowski of Poland and Mark English from Ireland placed second and third respectively to qualify to the next stage.

Amankwah placed 47th overall in the first round race.