Ghanaian Sports journalist, Fentuo Tahiru Fentuo, has jumped to the defence of Ghanaian athlete, Benjamin Azamati, who has been trolled after he and his colleague Abdul Rasheed Saminu fell short of reaching the men’s 100m final at the ongoing Olympic Games in Paris.
In their respective semi-final heats, Azamati clocked 10.17 seconds while Saminu finished with a time of 10.05 seconds, both insufficient to advance to the final.
Azamati placed ninth in his heat, which was dominated by Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, with world champion Noah Lyles securing second place.
Saminu finished seventh in his heat, surpassing Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, who ended up in eighth.
Following this, some X users trolled Azamati and ridiculed him for putting on fancy spectacles but failing to win.
Some users described him as the ‘specs man’.
Peeved by their actions, Mr Fentuo provided clarification as to why Azamati wears spectacles during big tournaments.
According to him, Azamati is sponsored by a men’s eyewear company Oakley, and as such, is to advertise the company’s product whenever he appears at events with large audience.
He therefore entreated those trolling the Ghanaian athlete to desist from that and show Azamati some respect and encouragement.
“One more thing – Azamati is sponsored by men’s eyewear company Oakley. The contract requires him to wear these running glasses at some major meets. It’s not just for the fun of it. It’s not easy in the track world to get sponsorship. He’s worked hard to secure this one, funds from which he’s able to use to support his training to come and compete for Ghana. If anything, he deserves encouragement, not trolling. Stop calling him ‘specs man’,” he wrote in a post on X.
