Sports Awards of the Year crowning ceremony 2020 |31 October 2020

No ‘best of the best’ for 2020

It has been officially announced that after much deliberation and consultations with stakeholders, the annual Sports Awards of the Year ceremony has been cancelled for the year 2020.

The National Sports Council (NSC) board deliberated on the pros and cons of organising the ceremony, and eventually concluded that it would not be appropriate given the current financial, health and economic situation of the country to have the event.

The NSC invited all sports federation chairpersons for a consultative meeting to hear their views, suggestions and comments regarding the ceremony and the consensus was that it would not be in the best interest of sports and holding the event will not do justice to athletes, coaches, officials and federations which have not been active during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The majority of the sports federations could not and did not implement their planned activities and programmes to organise competitions.

It was therefore impossible to measure performances and to nominate the best of the best.

Taking into account the current financial, health and economic difficulties that the country is going through in relation to the Covid-19, the focus was on budget saving rather than organising national events.

In a press communiqué, the NSC noted that since the department of health has been discouraging the organisation of big events, which attract a lot of people, therefore going ahead with the Sports Awards crowning ceremony would be irresponsible and in contradiction with the health measures in place.

Other concerns raised by the chairpersons were that most federations and associations have not organised competitions, and that will make it hard to select the best of the best of athletes.

The decision is also in line with the department of health and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic that no contact sports be organised.

The Sports Awards of the Year ceremony is an event organised mostly through funds from sponsors.

This year, most sponsors are financing and assisting with much-needed equipment, materials and medicine.

It will be recalled that on March 18, 2020, the sporting landscape changed with the Covid-19 pandemic.

All sporting activities, both at national and International levels, came to an abrupt stop.

With these cancellations, athletes and sport federations could not train, practice, perform and organise activities. All sports facilities and venues were also closed.

As sports adapt and learn to live with Covid-19, we are optimistic that the event will be back soon.

It is sailor Rodney Govinden and swimmer Felicity Passon who are currently holding the titles.

Compiled by Roland Duval