Four weightlifters selected for Olympics qualifiers in Madagascar

Four crack weightlifters have been selected to represent Ghana at next week's Tokyo Olympic qualifier in the island country of Madagascar.

Three of the four lifters were settled upon after a series of domestic trials in which they produced remarkably great performances.

They are skipper Christian Amoah, Winifred Ntumi and Sandra Mensimah Owusu.

The fourth lifter is UK-based Forrester Osei, who is expected to join his teammates in Madagascar for the one-week final qualifier for the quadrennial games.

Only last Friday, the Ghana Weightlifting Federation (GWF) had its third trials at the Accra Sports Stadium; and it was designed to sharpen the arsenal of its lifters ahead of the trip.

President of the GWF, Mr Jerry Ahmed Shaib, presented an amount of GH¢1,000 and energy drinks to the athletes during the competition, urging them to train very hard for the onerous task ahead of them.

"I know the assignment before you is very challenging, but I also know you have the capability and character to surmount it and emerge with flying colours," he said.

The team is expected to leave Accra early next month for the championship that is expected to be held in the Madagascan capital, Antananarivo, from May 16-23, 2021.

Amoah and Osei are just a few points away from landing safely in Tokyo and are heavily favoured to seal it off in May. Osei is said to have booked a place in the Games after an imposing performance in an individual event, but that would only be confirmed in Madagascar.

Some of the lifters who participated in the trials were Sylvanus Kugblenu, Abdul Salim, Emmanuel Allotey, Clement Korto, Emmanuel Boateng Amo and Eric Malibe - all of whom gave a superlative account of themselves.