29th Sports Awards of the Year-Crowning ceremony set for January 25 |06 January 2013

Local sportsmen and women who have excelled during the 2012 season will be rewarded on the night at the International Conference Centre.

Tickets for the 29th Sports Awards of the Year crowning ceremony cost R350 and are on sale at the Sports Training Centre (Stad Popiler car park) and the National Sports Council (NSC) headquarters at Stad Linite, Roche Caïman.

Those who wish to reserve seats and buy tickets can contact the NSC on 4671200 during office hours.

The ceremony will comprise two parts – the first when all male and female athletes chosen as the best in their respective sport will receive their awards, culminating with the crowning of the best of the best, and the second will be the cocktail dînatoire and dance.
 

The athletes chosen by their federations and associations will pocket R3,000 and a trophy with their photo engraved on it, and will at the same time run for four titles – Sportswoman of the Year, Sportsman of the Year, Young Female Athlete of the Year and Young Male Athlete of the Year.

In the senior category, 10 men and 10 women chosen from the original list handed in by federations and associations will run for the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year titles.

 The top five in each category will be rewarded.

The two athletes crowned Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year will each get R15,000, a return ticket to any European destination sponsored by Qatar Airways, a mobile phone from Cable & Wireless, a cup and a certificate.

The runners-up will get R8,000, third place finishers R6,000, fourth place finishers R4,000 and fifth place getters R3,000.

 They will each get a cup and a certificate.

Sportsman of the Year Allan Julie, who is in a league of his own with six titles, and Sportswoman of the Year Alisen Camille, who won the title for a first time during the 2011 crowning ceremony, have a chance to defend their crowns as they have once again been chosen as the best by their sporting associations.

Five male and five female young athletes (under 18 years old) will be shortlisted for the Young Male and Young Female Athlete of the Year titles, and all five will receive prizes during the crowning ceremony.

The prizes to be won by the five young athletes in the female and male divisions are R5,000 (winners), R4,000 (runners-up), R3,000 (third place finishers), R2,000 (fourth place finishers) and R1,000 (fifth place finishers).

 Other than the cash prizes, they will each get a certificate and a trophy.

Weightlifters Rena Agricole and Sirous Farabeau, who hoisted the Young Female and Young Male Athletes of the Year titles for the year 2011 after registering convincing results in the African senior weightlifting championship held in conjunction with the Commonwealth Youth, Junior and Senior Championship in South Africa in 2011, also have a shot at defending their trophies as the Seychelles Weightlifting Association has once again chosen them as the best among the young lifters.

There will also be awards for disabled athlete of the year, volunteer of the year, coach of the year, sports federation/association of the year, official of the year and best educational institution of the year in the primary, secondary and post secondary categories.

It will also be interesting to see if Anse Aux Pins and Anse Royale, who retained the titles for best primary and secondary schools for a second time in 2011 to complete a hat-trick, can win the title for a fourth year in a row.
 
As for the Maritime Training Centre, it will be looking to retain the title for post-secondary institution introduced in 2010 and make it a hat-trick of wins.

Special Achievement awards will also be given on the night and NSC chief executive Alain Volcère has said “the new awards will go to people who have made an impact through their performance or contribution in any sector of sports development in Seychelles”.

Meanwhile, the organisers are once again calling on sponsors to generously make their contributions to make the event a success.

 They can do so by contacting ether Mr Volcère on 2722152 or Giovanna Rousseau on 2722333.

G. G.