The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
THE journey to selecting the country’s top sportsperson sport has gathered pace with the Annual National Sports Awards’ judging panel holding their first meeting in the capital last week.
Sports and Recreation Commission development manager Martin Dururu said he expected this year’s awards to be tightly contested.
Tanya Muzinda
The awards will be held on December 18 and will run under the theme “Heart for Success”.
“Deliberations have already begun with the judges’ panel meeting for the screening process,” said Dururu. “The deadline for nominations is November 18, after which the nominees will be unveiled eight days later.
“The nomination process has been open since June, when SRC wrote to sport associations requesting them to fill in and return the forms.
“We expect a few old names and lot of new nominees to be submitted by sport associations after noting that the international calendar was very much action packed.
“Among the numerous success stories we witnessed this year, were the team that took part in the recently concluded African Games in Congo Brazzaville and last year’s African Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games where Zimbabwean athletes scooped an unprecedented 93 medals.
“There have generally been some outstanding performances, both locally and internationally, taking into consideration people like Tanya Muzinda who continues to excel in motor cross, while Kirsty Coventry once again brought home three gold medals from the African Games.
“She also qualified for Rio 2016 Olympic Games, together with Wirimayi Juwao, Micheen Thornycroft and Peter Purcell-Gilpin.”
Charles Manyuchi successfully defended his WBC welterweight title and should be in the race to defend his Male and Sportsperson of the Year Award.
In team sports, the Mighty Warriors are hot favourites after booking their ticket to next year’s Olympic Games.
