Eric Nkansah tries to re-launch carrier

German-based Eric Nkansah, one time Ghana's 100 metre king is working hard to re-launch his chequered career after a four-year lay off as a result of a nagging injury he sustained during the 1999 German Meet in Leverkusen.

He told the GNA Sports in Accra on Wednesday that after several unsuccessful attempts at a comeback, he decided to quit his career, which blossomed in 1993 after joining the national athletics team.

Nkansah said he was however, persuaded by some Ghanaians in the United States where he had gone to seek medical attention after the injury never to quit but to press on.

Nkansah, 28, who broke the national 100-metre record of 10.7 seconds set by Emmanuel Tuffour in 1997 said he was disappointed at the authorities for their apathetic attitude towards sportsmen after they have been injured.

He lamented that after serving the country for seven years before the injury, he thought he ought to have been treated with some respect.

After breaking that national record in 1997, Nkansah, broke his new record of 10.6 and set a new one at 10.3 seconds a year later. That record was however, broken by Leo Myles Mills in 1998 but before his career saw a nosedive, Nkansah had hit 10 seconds flat.

The athlete said there was the need for officialdom to take a second look at the treatment mated out to sportsmen in general else, many talented sports people would be "unwilling to die for the country."

Nkansah, who is scheduled to leave for Germany next week got to the semi-finals of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games, experienced a similar fate in the 1997 World Championship and was ranked number nine at the end of the event.

He placed fourth at the 1998 Commonwealth games finals and won the 1991 World indoor 16-metre grand Prix in Stockholm.