Ghanaian athletes, Sarfo Ansah and Rose Yeboah, will not participate in the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest after they were both denied visas by the Hungarian Embassy in Accra.
Newly-elected Ghana Athletics President, Bawa Fuseini, was also denied a visa to lead the team to the same competition.
Yeboah is the African Champion in the women’s high jump and just won gold at the World University Games in China with a new national record of 1.94m.
Ansah is a late replacement for the injured Benjamin Azamati and was expected to join Ghana’s 4x100m relay team.
Both athletes’ applications were submitted two weeks ago, following the late confirmation of their participation.
With accreditation from competition organizers, World Athletics, the visa issuance was expected to be a routine process, but on Monday, the Hungarian Embassy in Accra communicated to the team that visas for the two athletes had been refused.
Bawa Fuseini, Ghana Athletics’ President, was also denied a visa, but he will still be able to travel to Hungary for the competition because he possesses a French-issued Schengen visa, Joy Sports understands.
The rest of team Ghana is currently camping in France and will fly out to Budapest on Friday, ahead of the 10-day competition which starts on Saturday, August 19, 2023.
The team is led by Ghana’s 200m record holder, Joseph Paul Amoah (20.08s), who won bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the country’s first since 1978.