Sports Awards night set

By PATRICIA KEAMO
SOME of Papua New Guinea’s elite sports men and women will gather tomorrow evening at the Crown Hotel in Port Moresby for the 28th SP Sports Awards (SPSA) that recognises their achievements in 2019 and 2020.
The annual event, which is the country’s prestigious sports awards ceremony, will see more than 100 finalists from the 13 categories vying for awards in recognition for efforts over a two-year span.
A new inclusion in the categories includes the Stan Joyce award that acknowledges corporate organisations that contribute to developing sports in the country — this year’s finalists are Trukai Industries, Bank South Pacific and IBS University.
The SPSA ceremony will see a legend of PNG sport in former sprint champion Takale Tuna as guest speaker.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, attendance for the awards has been limited however the SPSA organising committee has opted to broadcast the event live on EMTV as well as radio on FM 100.
Twelve of the 13 categories have three finalist each except for the Sports Media of the year — EMTV and NBC’s Paul Taumik Jr are the finalists.
The finalists for male athlete of the year include PNG rugby league international and Melbourne Storm centre Justin Olam, weightlifter Morea Baru and national cricketer Norman Vanua.
Finalists for the female athlete of the year are PNG tennis star Abigail Tere-Apisah, Pacific gold medalist weightlifter Dika Toua and national jumper Rellie Kaputin.
In the category of team of the year, PNG Barramundis (cricket), PNG Oil Search Orchids (women’s rugby league), PNG Special Olympic Bocce team were the finalists while the national performance finalists are Kroton Hela Wigmen (rugby league), Leeroy Kamau (athletics), and the Nest Athletics Club.
Other finalists for the categories include: Hila Vare, Sammy Baea, Timothy Tuna (Junior Male Athlete); Konio Toua, Monica Korowi, Patricia Apisah (Junior Female Athlete); Haoda Agari, Judy Moi, Steven Abraham (Sports person with Disability); Barbara Stubbings, Joseph Dawes, Tony Green (Sports official of the year); and Jordan Sere, Simon Keslep, Troy Taule (Sports photo of the year). Some of the finalists are abroad training and competing however through the organising committee’s delivery of the event virtually, they will be able to watch the event streamed live also on Facebook via EMTV Online, SP Sports Awards and SP Brewery pages.