SMC-SAC WILL HONOR JUNE MAR TODAY
Cebuano basketball superstar June Mar Fajardo to receive major award for basketball in annual SMB-SAC Sports Awards SEI Wilfred Steven Uytengsu Jr. will also receive Sportsman of the Year award for bringing Cobra Ironman to Cebu
The 35th San Miguel Beer-Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SMB-SAC) Cebu Sports Awards gets underway this 2 p.m. at the North Wing of SM City Cebu with no less than Alaska Milk Corp. President and CEO Wilfred Steven Uytengsu, Jr. getting the Sportsman of the Year award.
Uytengsu was born in Cebu and is the president of the Sunrise Events Inc., which has made the province the home of the Cobra Energy Drink 70.3 Ironman. It will be held here for the sixth straight time come August.
SEI has put the island of Cebu on the world map of the half-ironman, especially last year when it hosted the Asia-Pacific Championships. The world-class event was first held here in 2012 and has become one of most awaited races among triathletes that registration for the event sells out in mere minutes.
Cebu’s hosting last year of the 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships received an overall satisfaction rating of 87.9 percent and was dubbed as the “crown jewel of Asia.” The rating was polled from the replies of about 800 participants.
SAC has chosen Uytengsu, a triathlete himself, to receive the Sportsman of the Year award, one of the special awards of this yearly event.
Other special guests invited to the event are the Cebu City Sports Commission, the Cebu Provincial Sports Commission and past presidents of the SAC.
Some 200 athletes will be commended for their exemplary performances last year in their respective sports including 18 who will be receiving major awards from whom the Athlete of the Year will be chosen.
Among the major awardees are Mary Joy Tabal, the very first Filipina to have competed in the long distance running event of the Olympics; June Mar Fajardo who has been named as the Most Valuable Player of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) for the third straight time; and Samantha Gem Limos who has been hailed as the fastest woman in last year’s Palarong Pambansa.
“Sports fans should not miss this. This is a chance for them to meet the Cebuano superstars in the country and the future stars,” said Mike T. Limpag, the SAC president.
Fajardo has also confirmed his attendance for the Cebu Sports Awards. His team, the San Miguel Beermen, just won their third straight Philippine Cup title last Sunday denying the Barangay Ginebra 4-1 in the finals series.
The rest of the athletes will be cited for having won gold medals in national events such as the Palarong Pambansa and the Batang Pinoy National Finals.
Aside from the awardees, the Philippines longest reigning boxing world champion Donnie Nietes will be elevated to the SMB-SAC Cebu Sports Awards Hall of Fame.
Nietes has always been a contender for the Athlete of the Year award since he became a boxing champion. This year, SAC felt that making him once again as the Athlete of the year is no longer enough accolade for his continued success in the sport of boxing. /