The SP Sports Awards Selection Committee in support with major Sponsors SP Brewery today announced the 33 finalists for the 10 existing Categories including a NEW Award for the 2015 SP Sports Awards to recognise the sporting achievements for teams, individual athletes and administrators within the past 12 months.
Chairman of the Selection committee Mr Moses Koiri who revealed the names of the finalists said it was a huge task selecting the three finalists in the various categories from a total of 128 nominations.
“The committee met on the 2nd, the 5th and on the 9th of this month. The reason been because of the upcoming Pacific Games we were sort of pushed into a tight scheduled to select the finalists. On past occasions we had to spread the three days into a longer period of time but we are happy with the result,” says Mr Koiri.
Apart from the other existing categories the new inclusion is the National Performance of the Year Award.
“This is a NEW award in the SP Sports Awards and it aims to recognise the efforts of individual Male or Female Athletes and Team who have performed outstandingly on the domestic front. Although we got many nominations coming in each category, the fact was some of the nominees had competed in international competition that disqualified them for consideration,” explained Mr Koiri.
PNG weightlifting duo and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Gold Medallists, Dika Toua and Steven Kari are once again the front runners in the Female Athlete and Male Athlete of the Year Award respectively for the 2015 SP Sports Awards but will have stiff competition from their other two finalists.
Dika will be up against Abigail Tere-Apisah of Tennis and PNG Sprint Queen Toea Wisil, both who have also achieved a lot in their respective codes while Steven Kari have PNG’s first ever Centurion in One Day International Cricket and Hebou Barramundis 19 year old star batsman Lega Siaka and SP PNG Hunters courageous Skipper Israel Eliab to vie for the prestigious Award.
And it does not get much easier for the Team of the Year with the three finalists who performed outstandingly and achieved remarkable results as a team in their respective codes.
The Hebou PNG Barramundis winners of this category last year will be looking to keep the honours from the ALF’s MVIL PNG Mosquitoes who won the AFL International Cup last year and the SP PNG Hunters team who were outstanding during their debut season in the 2014 Intrust Super Cup Season.
Young weightlifter Fred Oala will again try to defend his Junior Male Athlete category that he won last year against youngsters, Kaminiel Matlaun of Athletics and Mathew Stubbings from Tennis while Swimming’s Savanah Tkatchenko, Weightlifting’s Bea Ovia and Rosemary Tona from Taekwondo vie for the Junior Female Athlete Award.
The Other Categories finalists are as follows...
Sports Official of the Year; Sue Babao – Swimming, Alu Kapa – Cricket, Frank Robby – Weightlifting; Best Sports Person with a Disability; Elias Larry – Para-Athletics, Samantha Semeso and Regina Wala both from Special Olympics; Community Sports Initiative Award; Family Support Program – Special Olympics, Kriket Blo Olgeta – Cricket PNG, Sabama Touch Competition – Touch Footy; National Performance of the Year (NEW); Anthony Oaike – Boxing, Team Morobe Cricket – Cricket, George Yamak – Athletics; Sports Photo of the Year; Greg Campbell (Of Lega Siaka scoring PNG’s first ever ODI century), Antonia Singut (capturing SP Hunters Noel Zeming’s determination, focus and concentration), Benson Upas (Race to Glory-Women’s rugby league photo); Sports Media Award; Lorraine Genia – EMTV, Ephata Samuel and Paul Taumik Jnr both from NBC.
Judging by the names of the talented and elite sporting personals of PNG this year’s SP Sports Awards is predicted to be a close race.
Australian Rugby League Legend and the current Head Coach of Queensland State of Origin team, Mal Meninga was revealed as the Guest speaker during the Awards night which will be held on the 28th of this month at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port Moresby.
Chairman of the Selection committee Mr Moses Koiri who revealed the names of the finalists said it was a huge task selecting the three finalists in the various categories from a total of 128 nominations.
“The committee met on the 2nd, the 5th and on the 9th of this month. The reason been because of the upcoming Pacific Games we were sort of pushed into a tight scheduled to select the finalists. On past occasions we had to spread the three days into a longer period of time but we are happy with the result,” says Mr Koiri.
Apart from the other existing categories the new inclusion is the National Performance of the Year Award.
“This is a NEW award in the SP Sports Awards and it aims to recognise the efforts of individual Male or Female Athletes and Team who have performed outstandingly on the domestic front. Although we got many nominations coming in each category, the fact was some of the nominees had competed in international competition that disqualified them for consideration,” explained Mr Koiri.
PNG weightlifting duo and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Gold Medallists, Dika Toua and Steven Kari are once again the front runners in the Female Athlete and Male Athlete of the Year Award respectively for the 2015 SP Sports Awards but will have stiff competition from their other two finalists.
Dika will be up against Abigail Tere-Apisah of Tennis and PNG Sprint Queen Toea Wisil, both who have also achieved a lot in their respective codes while Steven Kari have PNG’s first ever Centurion in One Day International Cricket and Hebou Barramundis 19 year old star batsman Lega Siaka and SP PNG Hunters courageous Skipper Israel Eliab to vie for the prestigious Award.
And it does not get much easier for the Team of the Year with the three finalists who performed outstandingly and achieved remarkable results as a team in their respective codes.
The Hebou PNG Barramundis winners of this category last year will be looking to keep the honours from the ALF’s MVIL PNG Mosquitoes who won the AFL International Cup last year and the SP PNG Hunters team who were outstanding during their debut season in the 2014 Intrust Super Cup Season.
Young weightlifter Fred Oala will again try to defend his Junior Male Athlete category that he won last year against youngsters, Kaminiel Matlaun of Athletics and Mathew Stubbings from Tennis while Swimming’s Savanah Tkatchenko, Weightlifting’s Bea Ovia and Rosemary Tona from Taekwondo vie for the Junior Female Athlete Award.
The Other Categories finalists are as follows...
Sports Official of the Year; Sue Babao – Swimming, Alu Kapa – Cricket, Frank Robby – Weightlifting; Best Sports Person with a Disability; Elias Larry – Para-Athletics, Samantha Semeso and Regina Wala both from Special Olympics; Community Sports Initiative Award; Family Support Program – Special Olympics, Kriket Blo Olgeta – Cricket PNG, Sabama Touch Competition – Touch Footy; National Performance of the Year (NEW); Anthony Oaike – Boxing, Team Morobe Cricket – Cricket, George Yamak – Athletics; Sports Photo of the Year; Greg Campbell (Of Lega Siaka scoring PNG’s first ever ODI century), Antonia Singut (capturing SP Hunters Noel Zeming’s determination, focus and concentration), Benson Upas (Race to Glory-Women’s rugby league photo); Sports Media Award; Lorraine Genia – EMTV, Ephata Samuel and Paul Taumik Jnr both from NBC.
Judging by the names of the talented and elite sporting personals of PNG this year’s SP Sports Awards is predicted to be a close race.
Australian Rugby League Legend and the current Head Coach of Queensland State of Origin team, Mal Meninga was revealed as the Guest speaker during the Awards night which will be held on the 28th of this month at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port Moresby.