… Stanton Rose, Chelsea Edghill named sportsman- and sportswoman-of-the-year

STANTON Rose, Guyana’s history-making Senior National Basketball team captain, carved his name deeper into the country’s archives when he was named the Senior Sportsman-of-the-Year last evening, when the National Sports Commission (NSC) hosted its annual National Sports Awards at the Pegasus Hotel.

Rose is the first basketball player in the history of the sport, locally, to be named Sportsman-of-the-Year, and is also the first athlete from Kwakwani to win the prestigious accolade.

The now 19-year-old Rose placed his named among players like Lugard Mohan, Auric Tappin, Stanislaus Hadmon, Lorenzo Withrite and Leon Christian (just to name a few) as some of the most talented to ever suit up for Guyana; but what separates him from the aforementioned great ‘ballers’ is that he was able to bring the ‘elusive’ Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) men’s Caribbean title back to Guyana.

He is the youngest player (18 at the time) to ever captain Guyana at the CBC Championship, and left the 10-team tournament in Suriname as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his sensational performances, which also included a tournament-high 41 points 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, was third in points per game (17.7), third in assists 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. In the end, though, he accepted an offer to play for Jacksonville College and will compete on the National Junior College Athletics Association circuit.

It was a big night for the sport of basketball, with the historic CBC-winning team copping the Sports Team-of-the-Year. Junior Hercules, the team’s head coach, was named Coach-of-the-Year, while the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) picked up the Most Improved Association award.

SENIOR SPORTSWOMAN-OF-THE-YEAR
Chelsea Edghill, who won gold for Guyana in the Under-21 category at the Senior Caribbean Table Tennis Championships in Jamaica, held in September 2018, walked away as the Senior Sportswoman-of-the-Year at the end of the evening.

She won the College National Districts competition and placed second at College National Regional competition in the United States, along with being a quarterfinalist at the South American Games. These are just some of the other highlights of Edghill’s sensational run last year in the sport.

While currently not based in Guyana due to being awarded a scholarship to Lindenwood University in the United States, where she studies chemistry, the 21 year-old was at the forefront during her time here,

JUNIOR SPORTSMAN-OF-THE-YEAR
Shomari 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.

Wiltshire, on the local scene, has won a staggering four local titles. His success began in May 2018 when he captured the Woodpecker Products Junior National U-15, U-17 and U-19 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 title (gold) and was instrumental in leading Guyana to silver in the Team event which took place in Jamaica in July.

JUNIOR SPORTSWOMAN-OF-THE-YEAR
Priyanna Ramdhani is a seriously talented young woman who in 2018, demonstrated the “show them what crazy can do” tag which encourages young girls to get involved in sports.

The 17-year-old in 2018 was ranked the number one junior and senior female local squash player while also standing at 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 sustained hard work saw her lead Guyana to the 32nd ranked Junior Badminton Nationals 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 U-19 and 2 U-19) while also acquiring two silver and one bronze at the Caribbean International Senior Championships also held in Suriname.

COMPLETE RESULTS

Senior Sportsman-of-the-Year: Stanton Rose

Senior Sportswoman-of-the-Year: Chelsea Edghill

Junior Sportsman-of-the-Year: Shomari Wiltshire

Junior Sportswoman-of-the-Year: Priyanna Ramdhani

Sports Association-of-the-Year: GFF

Most Improved Association: GABF

Male Coach-of-the-Year: Junior Hercules

Female Coach-of-the-Year: Shelly Daly-Ramdyhan

Male Sports Official: Franklin Wilson

Female Sports Official: Dr Karen Pilgrim

Female Sports Personality: Mothers in Motor Racing

Sports Personality: Ramesh Sunich