However, this time of year, it is traditional that the National Sports Commission (NSV) reward outstanding persons in the sports fraternity with their award ceremony for their respective achievements.
Given the current circumstances, it is anyone’s guess if the fixture would be held this year.
It surely would be an unfortunate scenario if the National Sports Commission (NSC) is unable to pull off the event, failing to acknowledge the sterling efforts of our national athletes. One might say it’s out of Christopher Jones’ hands for the time being.
However, hypothetically speaking, there are a couple of clear favourites to snare the nation’s top sportsman accolade. Today, I will make a case for a few of the senior males who have distinguished themselves during 2019.
In my opinion table-tennis titan, Shemar Britton, chiseled bodybuilder, Kerwin Clarke and new cricket sensation Romario Shepherd are the front runners for the senior male awards.
Shemar Britton
The Caribbean men’s singles bronze and under-21 men’s silver- medallist, Britton, won the men’s singles category of the 2019 edition of the Trinbago Open Men’s Table Tennis Championship in Trinidad & Tobago.
Britton was unsuccessful in his bid to retain his crown he earned in 2018, going down to Cuban Livan Martinez in the under – 21 final of the 2019 Caribbean Regional Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF) senior championship at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Kerwin Clarke
Five-time Mr. Guyana, Clarke added a gold medal to his resume’ after using his sharp physique to slice through his weight class at last year’s CAC Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships staged in the Dominican Republic.
The 175-pound mass of striated muscle obliterated the competition in the under 176-pound class of nine musclemen.
In the overall, he returned on a quest to capture a coveted pro card, but that was questionably won by overall champion, Yordan Feliciano of the Dominican Republic.
Romario Shepherd
In 2019, Shepherd made his West Indies debut in ODIs and has since played five matches in that format. He took 2-32 on debut. In his Four-Day season, Shepherd took 37 wickets – the most by a seamer after delivering 257.3 overs while scoring 315 runs including two half-centuries.
For the Amazon Warriors, he took 13 wickets and scored 41 runs in three innings with a strike rate of over 200.
Shepherd was named the male Cricketer-of-the-Year as well as the Most Improved Player.
I will give my opinion on the senior female front runners in a subsequent issue.
