African
Female Bronze medalist Gina Bass has missed out for the semifinals of the 200m
of Rio 2016 Olympic Games after finishing 5th in round one of the event with a
time of 23.43seconds on Monday morning.
Sprinter
Gina Bass, who was Gambia’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Olympic
Games in Rio, is the first female athlete to represent The Gambia in the Olympic
Games with standard qualification.
The
21-year-old Gambian athlete who holds the new national record of 23.14 seconds
in the 200 meter had a good start but succumbed to former African champion
Nigerian Blessing Okacbare in the final stages of the race.
Gina
Bass, now ranked 47th in the world in the 200m race, was making her debut in
the Olympic Games.
Nigeria’s
Blessing Okacbare and Britain’s Asher-Smith came first and second in the heat.
Blessing
clocked 22:71 while Asher-Smith clocked 22:77. In third position is Strachan
Anthonique with 22:96.
“I
wanted to run my best performance but I could not realize my dream,” Gina Bass
said. “The lack of competition since we came from the African Championship in
June in South Africa partly contributed to my performance.”
Reacting
to Gina’s performance, head coach Mariama Sallah-Saine said her performance was
encouraging despite dropping from her personal best. It was a good performance
based on her experience, she added.
“We
are hoping to see her coming to her best performance ahead of next year’s
Islamic Games in Baku and the 2017 World Athletics Championship in London where
she has already qualified to compete in,” coach Sallah-Saine said.
For
sprinter Adama Jammeh, his competition will begin on Tuesday 16 August at 11.50
Brazilian time, 14.50pm in Banjul.
If
he crosses this stage, Adama Jammeh will run in the semifinals, on Wednesday 17
August at 22.00pm in Brazil exactly 01.00am on Thursday 18 August in Banjul.
Adama
Jammeh, if qualified, will run the final on Thursday 18 August at 22.30pm in
Brazil time exactly 01.30am on Friday 19 August 2016.
