Vote for sports personality of the year
OLYMPIC athlete Tyrone Pillay and international cricketer Dinesha Devnarain are in the running to win the Sports Personality of the Year award for the second time when the KwaZuluNatal Sports Awards are held at the Chief Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban on Friday.
Devnarain scooped the honour in 2016 and shot put star Pillay earned the accolade in 2014. Both were again nominated for the only prize at the event which is voted for by the public through an SMS line. The other nominees are Bongiwe Msomi (netball), Keshav Maharaj (cricket), Sebastian Crawford (triathlon), Bongumusa Mthembu (athletics), Chloe Tryon (cricket), Jean-Luc du Preez (rugby), Imran Tahir (cricket), Hank McGregor ( canoeing), Henri Schoeman (triathlon) and Andile Phehlukwayo (cricket).
Comrades up run winner Mthembu is the favourite after he won his second marathon in the globally recognised road race earlier this year, having previously taken the winner’s title in 2014.
Devnarain made a strong comeback to international cricket when the all-rounder captained the Proteas in a series against Ireland, and also faced New Zealand and Australia in other matches. The Chatsworth resident is heavily involved in coaching, and was the first female in this province to obtain a Cricket South Africa level three coaching badge, and the eighth countrywide.
Pillay represented the country at the Paralympic World Championships in London earlier this year when he finished fifth. Cricketer Maharaj is also in great form for the award, with 43 wickets in 11 Tests since he debuted in November. Last month he was drafted to the Pretoria Mavericks, one of the franchises in the new T20 Global League.
To vote SMS KZNAWARDS and the name of your candidate to 33258. SMS cost is R1.50. Closing date for voting is tomorrow.
“These awards are in line with our vision of creating an active and winning Province. KwaZuluNatal is well known for producing top class talent and through these awards we want to encourage them to work harder to achieve more podium results,” said MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi.