Ato to co-host FCB Sports Awards

FIVE-TIME “Sportsman-of-the-Year” Ato Boldon will join well-known broadcaster Anthony Harford to host the 2004 First Citizens Sports Awards. The ceremony will take place on Monday, from 8 pm, at Queen’s Hall in St Ann’s, with 45 nominees from 27 sporting bodies in line for the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards. Making this disclosure was Terry Young Sing, chairman of the First Citizens Sports Foundation, at yesterday’s media launch of the awards, which was staged at the Grand Riviere Conference Room, The Courtyard, Marriott Hotel, Invaders Bay, Mucurapo. Boldon, who took home the Sportsman of the Year accolade from 1995-1998, as well as 2000, is also a quadruple Olympic sprint medallist, having copped silver in the 100-metre final at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and bronze in the 200m at Sydney, the 100 and 200m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

When asked about Boldon’s co-hosting of the event, Young Sing noted that “the thought of inviting Ato came after we saw his work with the Caribbean Media Corporation at the Olympic Games.  “We e-mailed him and he responded immediately,” Young Sing added. “He is very enthusiastic about doing it. He (was) scheduled to fly in (yesterday) to prepare for the show on Monday.” With First Citizens Bank (FCB) replacing the West Indies Tobacco Company (WITCO) as the Foundation’s sponsor last August, the launch was held to highlight the changes of the awards, which has been in existence since 1964. “His Excellency, (President) Professor George Maxwell Richards has agreed to be the patron of the awards and will present the Sportsman of the Year award, while Her Excellency Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards has consented to present the Sportswoman of the Year award,” Young Sing said.

Sports Minister Roger Boynes will be the feature speaker on the night, which will also see the announcement of the Top Ten Personalities of the Year and the recipient of the Jeffrey Stollmeyer Award for the top sporting administration. And, for the first time, the Lystra D Lewis Sportsmanship Award will be presented to the person who, according to a selected panel, “display of empathy and kindness so seldom found in the sometimes overly competitive atmosphere of the game.” Lewis, one of TT’s renowned sporting administrators, recently resigned from the Foundation after 40 years of service.

The new-look trophies for the Sportsman and the Sportswoman of the Year will also be unveiled at the ceremony. The trophies, consisting of crystal, silver, gold and copper mounted on a mahogany and granite base, were designed by local sculptor Chris Shah. And the public will also have their say in proceedings, as they can vote online on the Sports Foundation’s Web site www. firstsports.net for the Top Ten. One lucky voter can win two football shirts and two tickets for Trinidad and Tobago’s Concacaf World Cup Final Round qualifier against Costa Rica at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo on May 30.