Sports Awards of the Year 2012-President crowns top performers Labiche and Allisop |28 January 2013

This is the first time Labiche and Allisop win the most prestigious sporting titles here – the Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year crowns – after they won the Young Female and Male Athlete of the Year titles in 2010.

In 2012, Labiche, who took part in the Olympic Games in London after receiving an invitation and cleared the bar at 1.85m, wrote some new chapters in the history of Seychelles’ track & field athletics. It all started in the local track & field Garden at Stad Linite where she improved the Seychelles junior and senior high jump record to 1.85m during the National Championship.

She was then crowned women’s high jump champion at the 18th African Senior Athletics Championships in Porto-Novo, Benin after clearing the bar at 1.86m for a new junior and senior Seychelles record.

At the 14th International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Junior Athletics Championships inside the Montjuic Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Labiche went over 1.88m, adding 2 centimetres to her junior and senior Seychelles record.

She was also the high jump silver medallist at both the Southern region junior championship in Namibia and South Africa open championship and also improved her Seychelles junior long jump record to 6.28m during the Southern region junior championship in Namibia.

Boxer Allisop qualified for the Olympics by winning a lightweight category bronze medal at the African Olympic qualification tournament in Casablanca, Morocco after edging out Kenyan Denis Okoth 19-18 in the quarterfinal. He then lost his semifinal fight on points – 8-16 – to Tunisian Ahmed Mejri.

In London, Allisop lost his first bout to a more experienced opponent – Jai Bhagwan of India – on an 8-18 verdict in the men's lightweight (60kg) category bout of the round of 32.

Vice-President Danny Faure, Designated Minister Vincent Meriton, who is also responsible for Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports, other ministers, principal secretaries, chief executives and representatives of sponsors also gave out the prizes during the annual ceremony organised by the National Sports Council to reward the best female and male athletes of the young and senior categories for the previous year’s sporting season.