With the selection of the national sports awardees just hours away, 2009 Sportswoman of the Year Jevina Straker has her fingers crossed in hopes of retaining the title for 2010.
While the main competition should come from junior table tennis starlet Chelsea Edghill, Straker is hoping that her performances last year will be enough to find favour with the judges so she could retain the title.
However Edghill has other predictions in store and says she’s confident that her 2010 rise to stardom in Guyana’s table tennis arena has sufficiently equipped her to cop the award.
Last year Straker gave some noteworthy performances that peaked with her gold medal win in the 1500m at the prestigious CARIFTA Games, where she was the only Guyanese to bring home a medal. Straker also saw performances at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
For Edghill her highpoint was her performance at the Pre-Cadet Caribbean Table Tennis Championship in Puerto Rico, where she won the girls singles competition and simultaneously qualified for the Pan American Mini Cadet tournament in the Dominican Republic. At the latter tournament Edghill made it all the way to the quarterfinals.
Edghill also attended the New York Table Tennis Federation Open Series, to improve her international rating. At present Edghill has a USATT (USA Table Tennis) rating of 1713.
Other nominees who Straker and Edghill will come up against include Caribbean junior squash champion Ashley Khalil and badminton player Priyanna Ramdhani.
Caribbean 2010 under-19 champion, 17-year-old Khalil is also a worthy competitor, with her run of creditable performances last year. Khalil captured the Caribbean under-19 title at the Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Junior Championships in the Cayman Island.
At the South American Games, Khalil had teamed up with Nicolette Fernandes to capture the bronze medal in the open category while they also placed third in the teams event.
At the Pan American Junior Championships in El Salvador Khalil and Keisha Jeffrey teamed up to cop a silver medal in the under-19 girls doubles, and a bronze medal in the teams category.
In December at the Canadian Junior Open Squash Championships Khalil won bronze in the consolation faction.
Meanwhile competition for the junior Sportsman of the Year award is not as heated, with sprinter Chavez Ageday the main likely prospect.
Ageday was one of the prime junior athletes on show last year where he rolled off performances at a number of international events after being selected by the Athletics Association of Guyana.
Ageday, specializing in the 100m and 200m events, represented Guyana regionally at the CARIFTA Games in the Cayman Island, then rising to higher events with performances at the South American Under-23 Games in Colombia, and the International Athletics Association Federation (IAAF) World Junior Championships in Canada.
On the international scene Ageday ended his 2010 performance by representing Guyana at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
Apart from Ageday, Junior Cricketer of the Year Amir Khan is a contender, while last year’s runner-up and junior squash player Jason Ray-Khalil along with badminton player Narayan Ramdhani have also been thrown into the mix.
Skipper for the national under-19 cricket team, on the domestic scene Khan hails from the Demerara County Under-19 team. For last year, the right arm leg spinner led the team in their fight in the TCL Group West Indies Under-19 Challenge in St. Lucia.
For his stunning bowling at the tournament Khan was also adjudged the TCL Bowler of the Year.
For Khalil his exploits in squash include a runner-up position in the boys under-17 singles, and boys team events at the CASA Championships. Khalil was also a part of the team that won the overall team title at the championships.
Khalil also participated in the Pan Am Junior Championships where his mixed doubles team won bronze in the under-19 category. Locally Khalil also performs creditably in a number of sports, including basketball, football and athletics.
Last year despite a widespread range of accomplishments Khalil was ousted for the award by national cyclist Geron Williams, who cannot contest the category this year as he is now over the age limit.
Meanwhile in the senior arena Aliann Pompey seems poised to attain another Sportswoman of the Year award, being the prime candidate for the position, while Hugh Ross looks most likely for the Senior Sportsman of the Year.
Last year’s runner-up Sportsman of the Year Cleveland Forde is also nominated, as is last year’s Sportswoman of the Year Nicolette Fernandes. However, neither 2009 Sportsman of the Year Ramnaresh Sarwan nor runner-up Sportswoman of the Year Alika Morgan are nominated.
In the place of Sarwan, GCB’s 2010 Senior Cricketer of the Year Devendra Bishoo was nominated to try for a grab at Sportsman of the Year. Powerlifter Randolph Morgan is in the race, along with rugby sevens player Claudius Butts, squash player Richard Chin and Caribbean scrabble champion Fred Collins.
On the female side in addition to Fernandes, Pompey will be contesting against the likes of Women’s Bantamweight world title holder Shondell Alfred, West Indies female cricketer Shamaine Campbell and rugby sevens player Sobola Gray.
For the differently-able Sportsman of the Year 2009 title holder, cyclist Walter Grant-Stuart is up for a possible repeat while table tennis player Gibrain Hussein is also nominated. For Sports Team of the Year last year’s performance of Guyana’s Rugby Seven’s Team may see them retaining the title but stiff competition comes from the Guyana national cricket team and the Guyana NRA full bore rifle team. The Lady Jaguars, Guyana’s national female football team, and Guyana’s national junior squash teams have also been nominated.
In the fight for Sports Association of the Year, it is a case of every association for itself with the nominations.
For most improved association, it’s another case of fight for self, though the abrupt rise of the Guyana Table Tennis Association during the latter half of last year puts it at the top of the pack.
For Coach of the Year table tennis coach Linden Johnson, rugby coach Theodore Henry and female football coach Mark Rodrigues have been nominated.
