The curtain came down on the National Sports Commission (NSC) 2018 national sports awards
ceremony at the Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel Friday evening with basketballer Stanton Rose and national table tennis ace Chelsea Edghill receiving the Senior Sportsman and Sportswoman-of-the-Year awards.
Shomari Wiltshire and Priyanna Ramdhani were crowned the Junior Sportsman and Sportswoman-of-the-Year to end a night where the nation’s athletes were honoured.
Rose is the first basketball player in the history of the sport locally to be named Sportsman-of-the-Year and also the first athlete from Kwakwani to win the prestigious accolade.
He is the youngest player to ever captain Guyana at the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) championships.
He departed the 10-team tournament in Suriname as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his sensational performances, which also included a tournament-high 41-point performance that came in Guyana’s 104 – 102 double-overtime win against St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Rose, who led Guyana to an unbeaten run in the championship, totalled 106 points (third overall), led the tournament in steals, totalling 15 at an average of 2.5 per game and was third in points per game (17.7), third in assist per game, eighth in rebounds per game and was the fourth best efficient player.
His performances did not go unnoticed in Suriname, with several scouts reaching out to the 6’2” guard, but in the end, he accepted an offer to play for Jacksonville College and will compete on the National Junior College Athletic Association circuit.
Edghill, on the other hand, won gold for Guyana in the Under-21 category at the Senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships in Jamaica which was held in September 2018.
She won the College National Districts Competition and was second at College National Regional Competition in the United States along with being a quarterfinalist at the South American Games.
Edghill recently graduated from Lindenwood University, in the United States, where she studied chemistry.
Meanwhile, Wiltshire will go down as one of the local legends within Guyana’s squash fraternity and is well deserving of the 2018 Junior Sportsman-of-the-Year award having been bypassed previously.
Wiltshire, on the local scene, won a staggering four local titles. His success began in May 2018 when he captured the Woodpecker Products junior national U15, U17 and U19 titles squash titles to start the year well.
The young man continued his form regionally where he clinched for the second year running the junior Caribbean under – 15 squash title (gold) and was instrumental in leading Guyana to silver in the team’s event which took place in Jamaica in July.
One month later, the Guyanese defeated Robert Avram to nab another gold medal – this time on the internarial circuit – while competing in the Newport Steamer Summer Gold Tournament in Rhode Island, USA.
He capped off 2018 by winning the annual Farfan & Mendes Junior Skill level squash tournament in November to secure another local title.
Ramdhani, who is Guyana’s undisputed badminton queen, is a seriously talented young woman.
In 2018, she demonstrated the “show them what crazy can do” tag which encourages young girls to get involved in sports.
The 17-year-old was ranked the number one junior and senior female local squash player in 2018 while also standing on the apex of the Caribbean – ranking in under 17 and senior charts. She was also ranked as one of the top South American female players.
Her continued hard work saw her leading Guyana to the 32nd ranked junior badminton national team after competing in the World Juniors in Canada.
On the individual side, she dominated last year’s Caribbean regional youth championships in Suriname by winning five gold medals (2 U19 and 2 U19) while also pocketing two silver and one bronze at the Caribbean international senior championships also held in Suriname.
Akeem Green was voted the online Journalist of the Year while Ramesh Sunich was adjudged the NSC’s male Sports Personality of the Year for his meaningful and outstanding contribution to sports development.
In a society where sponsorship for sports activities is hard to come by Sunich along with Fitness Express Jamie Mc Donald are two persons whose names readily comes to mind in the support sportsmen and women and sports activities.
Sunich, to his credit has willingly demonstrated the desire to make a difference by donating trophies and medals to all and sundry and his award is well deserved.
Also receiving awards were Dr Karen Pilgrim, Franklin Wilson, and Calvin Chapman, print journalist of the year, the latter two of the Kaieteur News Sports Department.
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See below the list of awardees:
Sportsman-of-the-Year (PWD) – Annson Forde
Sportswoman-of-the-Year (PWD) – Davena Nauth
Female Sports Official- Dr. Karen Pilgrim
Male Sports Official- Franklin Wilson
Female Coach- Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan
Male Coach- Junior Hercules
Female Sports Personality– Kathy Ten-Pow (Mothers in Motor-racing)
Male Sports Personality- Ramesh Sunich
Most Improved Association– Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation
Association-of-the-Year- Guyana Football Federation
Junior Sportsman– Shomari Wiltshire
Junior Sportswoman– Priyanna Ramdhani
Senior Sportsman– Stanton Rose Jr.
Senior Sportswoman– Chelsea Edghill
Team-of-the-Year– Senior Male Basketball team
Journalist (Online) – Akeem Greene
Journalist (TV) – Eric Collymore
Journalist (Print) – Calvin Chapman
Special Awards: Bhaskar Yadram, Shemar Britton, Walter Grant-Stuart, Theresa Pemberton, Allister Munroe, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
