Simpson fails to pick Rio 2016 slot

A host of veteran athletes paraded at last Saturday's Circuit Championships at the El-Wak Stadium but failed to seal qualification to the 2016 Olympics. 

Among the veterans in a field of over 250 old and young athletes included 2005 World Athletics Championship bronze medalist Margaret Simpson, Isaac Nii Lamptey (the coach of Youth Olympic gold medalist, Martha Bissah) and hurdler Jacqueline Bludu.

Margaret, competing in her favourite javelin event, finished tops after throwing a distance of 49.95 metres (SB) but fell short of the 50.78 metres or 62.00 metres mark required for the African Athletics Championships and the 2016 Olympics respectively.

Jacqueline was the fastest in the 400 metres women's hurdles race, crossing the finishing line in 1:02.06 seconds. She finished ahead of Christiana Baska (1:04.19 sec) and Mavis Asafe (1:06.82sec) but their times were way below the 58.37 seconds mark required to qualify for even the African Championships.

For Isaac, it was not a happy outing either as he finished fourth out of five athletes in the 110 metres hurdles heats with a time of 16.71 seconds. The fastest athlete in that race was Frank Ennin, who made a time of 15.24 seconds.

However, his protege, Martha, fared better in the women's 800m race, claiming first place in a time of 2:08.41. She finished ahead of Judith Donkoh (2:15.09sec) and Patience Akanwogbah (2:16.96) but was unable to meet the 2:03.93sec mark for the African Championships.

Youngsters Regina Yeboah and Abigail Kwarteng (who have already qualified for the African Athletics Championships) also continued their running battle to decide who qualifies for the Olympics, with both falling short with identical 1.75m jumps.