(William D. Ezah, GNA Special Correspondent, Maputo, Mozambique, courtesy National Sports Authority (NSA)

Maputo, Mozambique, Sept. 10, GNA - Ghana has again lost an opportunity to win medals at the 10th All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique, after the National Karate-Do team, failed to advance from the preliminaries of the competition.

The team, which started their events two days ago, were eliminated from the four categories they participated in, with only Victor Lartey coming close to winning a medal in the Kata division, but was denied the opportunity on the day of the medal presentation.

Ghana participated in -66, -78, -60, -81 categories and the Kato events but failed to make the needed impact in all of the events.

Lartey who placed fourth in the individual Kato event, which is a demonstration of individual Karate skills and was assured of a medal after placing fourth, however had a disappointing moment when he appeared for the medal presentation ceremony.

His name was instead replaced with a Karate-kat from South Africa, whom the organizers said had more points, hence deserved the fourth position which could have granted the Ghanaian a bronze medal.

Patrick Anyidoho, General Secretary of the Ghana Karate-Do Association told the GNA Sports after the event that, the output of the Karate-Kats was a disappointing one as they expected a much more improved performance.

He said the discipline had limited slots for the competition, which also accounted for their dismal performance.

According to Anyidoho, there were categories in the group events that could have given the nation medals but due to restrictions on slots, they had to leave behind Karate-Kats for the group events.

He suggested that the discipline be given more slots in future competitions to enable them make the participants make the desired impact. Ghana is yet to win a medal in the two week Pan African Sports Festival, after failed attempts by the participants in the Swimming, Boxing with Karate-Do events.

There are however clear indications that the nation might grab medals in boxing and football with the qualification of the Black Princesses to the semi- finals of the football category.