The President of the Ghana Taekwondo Federation has admitted their athletes' failure to compete at the world championships due to visa issues was unfortunate and avoidable ©Youtube

The President of the Ghana Taekwondo Federation (GTF) has admitted their athletes' failure to compete at the World Championships in Manchester last month due to visa issues was unfortunate and avoidable.

GTF, along with many other African Federations, had no representatives at the Championships due to athletes being too late to apply for legal travel to Britain.

It led to no African athlete winning a medal at the Championships for the first time since Chicago in 1995.

GTF President Frederick Lartey Otu appealed to Embassies in Ghana to be responsive to their applications in order to participate in high-profile sporting events.

Otu also said reports that players were abandoned for only him to travel were unfounded.

He claimed that, but for the significance of his role at the World Taekwondo General Assembly, he would have abandoned the trip due to the visa issues of the athletes.

Ghana, along with other African countries, had no representatives at the World Championships in Manchester ©Getty Images
Ghana, along with other African countries, had no representatives at the World Championships in Manchester ©Getty Images

Otu made his remarks at a dinner hosted by the Korea Ambassador to Ghana, Kim Sung-soo.

Otu called for the support of the Korea Embassy in implementing the Global Membership System (GMS) which registers all members of taekwondo, across the board in Ghana in order to ease future travel issues.

At the meeting, the GTF also received sets of taekwondo uniforms and belts as part of the Embassy's support for the development of the sport.

Otu encouraged the team to be focused and keep training to adequately prepare themselves for the All-African Games in Morocco in August this year.

He revealed plans to put together a team championship in July to enhance preparation after the World Championships debacle.