Hot on the heels of the annual May Day Sports festival will be a special sports banquet where dedicated sport personalities will be c for their significant contributions to the development of Gambian sports.

George Gomez, executive director of The Gambia National Olympic Committee, who are also the sole organisers of the event, has told Observer Sports that this year’s banquet will be held on Saturday, May 10, at the Kombo Beach Novotel.

He noted that an award committee has already been instituted in a bid to stage one of the best, if not the best award ceremony in the history of the National Olympic Committee.

The award committee which has veteran sports elites in Sait Mbye, former director of Youth & Sports, Peter Gomez, veteran football analyst, Ndey Jallow, principal of Marina Lower Basic School, is headed by Assan Joof of Basic Education.

To ensure that the right personalities are awarded, Mr Gomez said, all national sports associations have been written to to make nominations. He said the general public can also nominate through the award committee, noting that each nomination must, however, be justified by the person making the nomination.

Categories

Dilating on the categories of the award, Mr Gomez who is serving as a secretary and ex-officio to the committee, said the award will be divided into five categories the highest being the award for the Most Outstanding Sports Personality. This award, he added, will be given to a devoted and dedicated sportsman or woman whose sustained contribution by performance, attitude and commitment speaks strongly and loudly of a sporting model worthy of emulation.

“There will also be an awards for the Hall of Fame, Sports Merit, Posthumous Merit Award and Honourary Merit Award. And the number of awardees in each of these categories has been increased,” he said.

Objective

On why the need for such prestigious award, Gomez, said: “We want to preserve sports legacy in The Gambia and to recognise sportsmen and women, as well as institutions who contributed significantly to the development of sports. We also want to appreciate and recognise the contributions of those sportmen and women who have died”.

“I also believe that such honours will encourage our young sportsmen and women to redouble their effort in their bid to achieve greater things in the future. If our young sports personalities know that they will be considered in the near future for their good deeds, surely they will strive to perform with great devotion and commitment,” he said.

The national sports award was initiated in 1997, and since the, over 100 outstanding sportsmen and women and 10 institutions have been honoured for their selfless contributions to the development of Gambian sports.