Sports
Jelani Beckles
CYCLIST Nicholas Paul and sprinter Michelle-Lee Ahye copped the senior sportsman and sportswoman of the year awards, respectively, when the 61st edition of the First Citizens Sports Foundation Sports Awards and Hall of Fame Induction ceremony was held at Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain on Saturday night.
Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis congratulated all the athletes for their efforts.
She said, “We acknowledge your strength, we admire your passion, we commend your courage, and we remain inspired by your greatness…for your exemplary focus; your perseverance; your grit; and your willpower to truly conquer your sporting disciplines.”
Cudjoe-Lewis thanked First Citizens for recognising the athletes.
Paul, 25, had a decorated 2023 with the highlight being at the 2023 International Cycling Union World Track Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in August.
Paul, who is the world record holder in the flying 200m, earned a historic silver medal.
It was Paul’s second World Championship silver after medalling in the 1K time trial event in 2021.
Later in 2023, Paul showed his class at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
He defended the sprint title he won at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru and also bagged silver in the men’s keirin.
One of the best moments of 2023 for Ahye was at the Pan American Games where she grabbed bronze in the women’s 100-metre event in 11.53 seconds. Ahye was the only TT track and field athlete to win a medal in Chile.
It was Ahye’s second Pan Am medal after copping silver at the 2019 edition in Lima, Peru.
Ahye is still TT’s most elite women’s sprinter and has continued to dominate in local meets.
Ahye and Paul also copped the 2023 TT Olympic Committee senior awards in December.
Winning the youth sportsman of the year prize was swimmer Nikoli Blackman and earning the youth sportswoman of the year award was track and field’s Janae De Gannes.
Blackman and De Gannes both delivered outstanding performances at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games, held in TT.
Blackman copped three gold medals and De Gannes bagged a silver medal in the women’s long jump.
In 2023, De Gannes also broke the North American, Central American and Caribbean Games Under-18 meet record with a 6.11-metre effort.
Blackman also shone on the world stage, winning the 50-metre freestyle event at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships 2023.
Group CEO of First Citizens Karen Darbasie said everyone should emulate TT’s athletes.
Darbasie said, “At First Citizens we truly believe that we all can learn from your drive for discipline, endurance, agility and focus. Then, we do, by extension, acknowledge that there is a responsibility on all of us to continue investing in you.
“And so you have our commitment this evening, that as a group, we are looking forward to the continued support of our sporting fraternity.”
Honour roll:
Lystra Lewis Award
TT men’s 3×3 basketball team
Hall of Fame Inductees
Candilla Berment – Special Olympics (administrator); Gordon Borde – Swimming (administrator); Candice Scott – Athletics (athlete); Cleopatra Borel – Athletics (athlete); Marc Burns – Athletics (athlete); Leslie Stewart – Boxing (athlete); Kwandwane Browne – Hockey (athlete); Edmund De Freitas – Horse Racing (trainer); Charles Joseph – Athletics (coach); Pearl Gooding – Athletics (athlete); Deon Lendore – Athletics (athlete); Devan Mahadeo – Special Olympics (athlete/administrator).
Top Ten Youth Nominees
Nikoli Blackman (swimming); Imanni Matthew (athletics); Janae De Gannes (athletics); Syndel Samaroo (cycling); Makaira Wallace (cycling); Chloe Fraser (table tennis); Amara Urquhart (badminton); Vishal Ramsubhag (badminton); Brendan Boodoo (cricket); Makieve Bellille (boxing).
Youth Sportswoman of the Year
Janae De Gannes (athletics)
Youth Sportsman of the Year
Nikoli Blackman (swimming)
Top Ten Senior Nominees
Teague Marcano (hockey); Dylan Carter (swimming); Jereem Richards (athletics); Michelle-Lee Ahye (athletics); Nicholas Paul (cycling); Alexi Costa-Ramirez (cycling); Joshua Johnson (chess); Karishma Ramharack (cricket); Darren Bravo (cricket); Akeem Stewart (athletics).
Senior Sportswoman of the Year
Michelle-Lee Ahye (athletics)
Senior Sportsman of the Year
Nicholas Paul (cycling)
