We competed without our gear — Judoka boss
Emmanuel Tetteh, the president of the Ghana Judo Federation (GJF), is rueing the lost opportunity of his team to make more medals at the just-ended Commonwealth Games and has blamed it on the late arrival of uniforms for his team, in Glasgow, Scotland.
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The late arrival of the uniforms compelled the federation to borrow uniforms for the judokas to compete.
Tetteh, whose accreditation was revoked by the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) but later restored, said the uniforms arrived last Wednesday, only four days before the close of the Games.
He said the uniforms arrived at a time judokas had completed their participation in the competition, adding that the absence of the uniforms affected their performance at the Games.
According to Tetteh, they were compelled to borrow uniforms for the judokas to compete in the Games, adding that, the uniforms were without Ghana flags.
Tetteh said the situation led to the disqualification of some of the judokas because they were not properly inscribed.
The GJF president contended that, but for the absence of the uniforms the team would have performed better.
Judo was one of the disciplines that fetched one of Ghana’s two medals in the competition.
Razak Abugiri, who also competed in a borrowed uniform for the 60kg category, won a bronze medal in the competition.
Further checks by the GNA Sports revealed that, apart from Emmanuel Nartey, a member of the British Army, who competed with uniforms from his sponsors, Alex Amoako 66kg, Dominic Agudoo 60kg, Abubakari Alhassan 81kg and Raymond Normeshie – 100kg all competed in borrowed uniforms.