ASIAD GOLD WINNERS LEAD A.O.Y. ROSTER
IT’S the season once more when the best of Philippine sports will be honored, as the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) recognizes the top achievers of 2018 during its Annual Awards Night next month.
The traditional gala will be on February 26 at the Manila Hotel, with the handing out of the Athlete of the Year award serving as the highlight of the affair.
The PSA Board, led by president Dodo Catacutan of SPIN.ph, already deliberated on several nominees for the group’s top honors and other various awards to be given out.
The four gold-medal winners in the Indonesia Asian Games emerged as the top bets for the Athlete of the Year award. They are weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, skateboarder Margielyn Didal and the golfing trio of Yuka Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go.
The four gold medals in Indonesia were the most by the country since bagging the same number of mints in the 2006 edition of the quadrennial Games in Doha, Qatar.
Last year world champions Jerwin Ancajas (boxing), Krizziah Lyn Tabora (bowling) and Carlo Biado (billiards) were the recipient of the PSA Athletes of the Year award.
Composed of editors, sportswriters and columnists from print (broadsheet and tabloid), and online media, the PSA will also be selecting winners for the President’s Award, Executive of the Year, National Sports Association (NSA) of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award.
Also to be named are Mr. Basketball, Mr. and Ms. Volleyball and Mr. Football. The country’s sportswriting fraternity, the oldest media group in the Philippines established in 1949, will also be awarding Major Awards and Citations in various sports, as well Tony Siddayao Awards and the Milo Junior Athletes of the Year for young top achievers.
Posthumous Awards will be given to athletes, officials and other sports personalities who passed away in 2018.