THERE is all likelihood that the National Sports Commission (NSC) gala Awards Ceremony could return as early as January 2023 according to subject Minister Charles Ramson Jr.

The Awards Ceremony that was held in 2019 could also be held alongside the highly successful Sport Conference which was first staged in 2021 but did not take place in 2022.

“It should be early in the following year, but I don’t think it should be for that year,” Minister Ramson Jr. stated.

He added, “Yes, we will have the awards … internally; we are setting it for January because we still want to do the Sport Conference.”

According to the Minister, “the Sport Conference is a useful mechanism for us to do the awards and discuss how we are going to continuously improve and make an assessment of how the academies are working, where are failures and implement the strategies and programmes on how to improve it.”

After the inaugural Sport Conference in 2021, the focus was shifted to the implementation of the first-ever Sport Academy in the country.

The Sport Academy, which, importantly, is a programme and not a building, will centre on three pillars – Nursery, Tournaments and Elite Training Academy.

The core sports currently identified by the Ministry are: Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Squash, Table Tennis, Rugby, Volleyball, Swimming, Football, Tennis, Hockey, and Track and Field.