Michael Naaba: Ghana’s cycling champion laments using old bike for African Games

Naaba, who won the National Cycling Championship last year, suffered a setback just minutes into the race after the tube of his bicycle tyre burst, forcing him to withdraw after no spare was provided.

Lamenting his sad fate, the cyclist said he was not given a new bike for the African Games and, therefore, had to use his old bike for the competition.

Michael Naaba laments using old bike

“I started preparations from last year when I knew that Ghana would host the games. I have been training day and night to prepare,” Naaba told 3Sports.

“When the race started, my bicycle failed me. My bike tube failed when the sound was blasted. I don’t have a good tube. I use the same one from training to compete.”

He added: “The bike I am using was given to me by the federation when I won the national championship years ago. The bike is an old one. If the government doesn’t give us new bicycles, we cannot compete.

“The bicycles we are using currently are ones we used our own money to buy. If you look at our outfits, you’ll realise that they are very old. We were told that new equipment was ordered for us but they haven’t arrived so we are using the old ones.”

Meanwhile, Ghana has now won four medals in the ongoing African Games – one silver from swimmer Abeiku Jackson and one gold and two silver medals from female weightlifter Winnifred Ntumi.