NSC National Sports awards
SELECTING Guyana’s top sports performers for the past year should not be as difficult as some feel as there are certain performances both by individuals and teams that certainly merit the award.

There are a number of contenders for the senior and junior sportsmen of the year 2009 as well for the women’s version, but when one looks at the individual performances of these athletes, there should not be any problem or deliberations as to who stands out more than the others.

Among the top contenders for the sportsman of the year award are: middle distance athlete Cleveland Forde, Guyana and West Indies cricketers Ramnaresh Sarwan and Narsingh Deonarine as well as professional boxer Leon `Hurry Up’ Moore.

For the sportswoman-of-the-year award those in contention are: world rated squash player Nicolette Fernandes, golfer Christine Sukhram and middle distance athlete Alika Morgan.

There are several serious contenders for the junior sportsman-of-the-year award and among them are cyclist Geron Williams, middle distance athlete Ricardo Martin and the multi-talented Jason Ray Khalil.

For the junior sportswoman-of-the-year category, Morgan stands out as the top performer, but squash players Victoria Arjoon and Keisha Jeffrey along with Jevina Straker are all in with a chance.

For the senior sportsman-of-the-year award, Forde kept the Golden Arrowhead aloft throughout the year, winning every race he competed in at the regional level, but his best accomplishment for the year was the South American 10K Classic where he won the first leg on home soil, won the second leg in neighbouring Suriname and had to settle for second place in stage three in Panama.

He had the last stage to win, but because he took a wrong route nearing the end of the race he failed to cross the finish line first.

Guyana and West Indies middle order batsman Narsingh Deonarine also had quite a successful year in 2009.

His prolific form leading up to the West Indies first class season made him accomplish the feat of being the first batsman to score over 1 000 runs (1068) in a West Indies Cricket Board first class season.

Deonarine, a current member of the West Indies team, represented the Caribbean side in the final Test of the West Indies tour of Australia and he scored 82 runs in the last innings at Adelaide and together with Brendon Nash, put on 128 for the fourth wick. West Indies, however, lost that Test match by 35 runs.

Sarwan, on the other hand, played nine Test matches last year scoring 850 runs at an average of 60.71.

His 850 runs included four centuries with his career-best of 291.

Moore for his part won the North American boxing Association as well as the Caribbean Boxing Federation’s bantamweight titles.

For the sportswoman-of-the-year award, there should be no stopping squash player Nicolette Fernandes, who after recovering from a career-threatening knee injury moved from the bottom of the Women International Squash Players Association ranking to her current ranking of #70.

Fernandes, since her comeback, defeated all and sundry at the regional level then went on to further enhance her chances of becoming the number one in the world in the not-too-distant future.

Her greatest achievement though, was winning the Greek Open to jump from #88 to #70.

Golf player Christine could be considered next in line as she won quite a few local tournaments.

Her greatest feat last year, though, was her successfully defending her Guyana Open title against a number of other regional golfers.

For the junior sportsman-of-the-year, Khalil stands out as the perfect choice.

The multi-talented athlete did well last year in a number of sporting disciplines, including squash, track and field, badminton and basketball.

The 15-year-olf Marian Academy student won the Under-15 and Under-17 titles at the Woodpecker Products-sponsored tournament and also finished in the runner-up spot in the Under-19 age group.

He was a member of the boys’ team that won the junior Caribbean title and placed third in the Under-17 category of the North American Junior Championships staged in Canada.

He won the Under-15 and Under-17 categories of the National Sports Commission Badminton tournament and placed third in the Woodpecker-sponsored tournament.

Together with a partner, he won the Under-15 doubles and placed second in the Under-17 age group.

In basketball, he captained the Marian Academy team to the runner-up spot in the national schools tournament and was a member of the Under-17 side.

In track and field, Khalil placed second in the 200 and 400-metre races at his school’s championships but won the 800 and 1500m events.

He also won the latter events at the North Georgetown Inter-School Championships and went on to represent his district at the National schools championships in Linden.

Williams, for his part, dominated the junior category of cycling locally, but his greatest accomplishment was winning the Ministry of Health/National Sports Commission/Guyana Cycling Federation Five-Stage `Riding for Life’ race.

His achievement should be considered as he raced among the country’s top road racers including Dwayne Gibbs and Godf
rey Pollydore as well as overseas pedal pushers.

In the junior sportswoman-of-the-year race, Alika Morgan stands out as the top contender, having dominated the local circuit, coupled with outstanding performances regionally, as well as two second-place finishes in the first two legs of the South American 10K Classic.