AZAMATI BREAKS 22-YEAR RECORD AND BOOKS TICKET TO TOKYO 2020
He keeps shattering records wherever he goes. He has become the torchbearer for many young student athletes at the University of Ghana (UG) and Ghana as a whole. He epitomizes perseverance, the strength of mind, body and soul. Benjamin Azamati, a former student of UG has broken the 22-year old national 100m record in the United States of America during the Texas Relay with a time of 9.97 seconds (1.5 m/s). He is a clear manifestation of the fruits of silent and patient investment of the Sports Directorate of the University of Ghana
Azamati representing West Texas A&M University is the first man to break 10 seconds this season (legal conditions) as he took to the tracks in the heat 8 of the 100m event in the competition. Breaking Leo Myles-Mills 22-year record has propelled him to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020.
Azamati – A Determined Athlete
Azamati epitomizes an athlete who has the desire, drive and passion to succeed at what he does. He is devoted and invests time in training. He developed this positive culture after representing the University of Ghana (UG) in the 2018 West African Universities Games (WAUG), Port Harcourt, Nigeria. After not making the mark in terms of medals, decided upon his return to spend more quality time with his coach then Mr. Elorm Amenakpor in training. Between 2019 and 2020, Azamati had become the fastest athlete based in Ghana, the fastest student athlete in Africa at the African Universities Olympics in Cairo, Egypt, won Ghana the 4x100m after a sixteen (16) years wait, in the African Games in Rabat, Morocco. This qualified him and he represented Ghana at the World Athletics Championship in Doha, Qatar in 2019 reaching the semi-finals. He achieved all these while a student at UG and under the guidance and training of the Sports Directorate.
Result of Patience Investment
The UG Sports Directorate under the tutelage of Dr. Bella Bello Bitugu, an expert in the area of sports development and sports for development across Africa and the Globe, introduced a repertoire of policies and programmes at the Directorate to attract, nurture and support the best student athletes in Ghana. One of such policies, the University of Ghana Policy on the Admission of Athlete Students (UG-PAAS) unearthed Benjamin Azamati at a Partner School at Presbyterian Boys Senior High School (Presec), Legon.
The policy seeks to give admission to talented sportsmen and women into the University of Ghana on concessionary basis after making the minimum aggregate of 24 in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
To motivate, support and develop their sporting career while achieving academic excellence, the University of Ghana Sport Fund (UG-SF) was introduced.
These policies and programmes among other careful laid down strategies has inured to churning out quality athletes who have gone to represent Ghana and the University in national and international competitions.
The University of Ghana is of the firm belief that the Sports Directorate under the leadership of Dr. Bitugu is on course to continue to unearth, nurture and develop holistic student athletes who ultimately will be good resources in their area of work after their sterling sporting careers.