Night when the stars came out
Buffalo City’s talent was top of their game with a number of winners
It was a good night at the Eastern Cape Sport and Recreation Achievers awards for finalists from the BCM region and their surrounds, after a number of them walked away as category winners.
In all 23 main categories were decided on during the night of glitz and glamour which is held to acknowledge and reward the contributions of the Eastern Cape's sportsmen and women over the year.
“Considering that it’s the 21st year of the awards and with the theme of celebrating women in sport we were very happy with how the nominees were chosen and the winners were all fully deserving,” said Sports Department spokesperson Andile Nduna. “In all it was a fantastic night, everyone enjoyed themselves and it was a resounding success.”
One of the most fiercely competed categories was the Technical Official of the Year, with three top options, all from the BCM region.
In the end it was Tiffany Adams who triumphed for her work in table tennis, with some of her highlights being officiating at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia, at the the 2017 ITTF World Championships in Germany and at the 2017 German Masters Tournament in Germany.
Two of the countries top umpires in their respective fields, Shaun George for cricket and Deon Nel for hockey were the unlucky officials to miss out.
It was a good awards overall for Eastern Cape Table Tennis who are based in BCM, as they were nominated in multiple categories and ended up walking away with three awards, including the one that went to Adams.
The other two saw EC Table Tennis crowned the Federation of the Year, while EC Disabled Table Tennis were named the Sport Team of the Year for persons with disability.
The Volunteer of the Year award on the night went to the Amathole regions Laetitia Golden, whos superb work in hockey made her a well deserved recipient.
The Recreational body/organisation of the Year went to BCM's Imvomvo, the Indigenous games team of the Year went to the Intonga team also from the BCM, while the Indigenous games star of the Year was the OR Tambo's Khanyile Maliwa.
Other wins for the OR Tambo region saw the Ntlaza Junior Secondary School Sevens team named the School team of the Year, Vuyisa Kulase named Presenter of the Year for his work in cricket, while the Developing School team of the Year went to Joe Gqabi's Nomzamo Junior Secondary School.
In a repeat performance the Sportsman of the year Golden Age went to Robert Xavier from the Alfed Nzo district, with him having won this award before.
In was a fantastic night, which everyone enjoyed and it was a great success