Baptiste, Daniel take First Citizens awards

Not many eyebrows were raised when top shooter Roger Daniel and sprinter Kelly Ann Baptiste were announced winners of the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year respectively, when the First Citizens Sports Foundation held its awards ceremony at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, on Wednesday night. Daniel and Baptiste, nevertheless, received thunderous applause after emerging cream of the crop from among 28 male and 21 female athletes who were nominated. Daniel lifted the trophy for the second year running, ahead of in-form athletes such as Njisane Phillip, Ravi Rampaul and Rondel Sorrillo, and even multiple record breaking dragster Sheldon Bissessar, all of whom were placed in the top 10 performers. His silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol competition at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, which saw him total 676.1 points, was just one of his shining moments. A couple of gold medals in the 10m and 50m air pistol events in the Norwegian Hell Open International Air Gun Championships, following the Pan Am, simply put the icing on the cake for him. Baptiste looked the only realistic contender for the Sportswoman of the Year title, and so it proved. Baptiste, the 25-year-old Tobago native became the first woman from T&T to earn a medal at the IAAF World Track and Field Championship when she placed third in Daegu, South Korea. She also helped T&T to fourth place in the 4 x100 relay.

 

Baptiste was not present but was represented by Director of Sport at the Tobago House of Assembly- Theophilus Trim. In its “50 Years of Champions”, the First Citizens Sports Foundation, hosted by T&T and West Indies cricket legend Ian Bishop and TSTT head of public relations Camille Salandy, rolled back the years, with three-time winner and inaugural awards recipient, cyclist Roger Gibbon (1962) greeting the audience with a recorded broadcast, in which they commended the Sports Foundation for its recognition of T&T’s top athletes. Gibbon, Wendell Mottley, Gene Samuel, Debra O’Connor, all extended warm congratulations to the winners, while lauding the value of the awards. Minister of Sport Anil Roberts also addressed the audience, before handing over the awards for the Top 10 athletes of the year. Roberts thanked the Foundation “not only for recognising all of our brilliant elite performers, but getting involved in the sphere of development.” He further urged the Foundation to continue educating the population on the history of sport in T&T. The 4 x 100m national women’s relay team, which picked up a fourth place finish in the 2011 World Championships in South Korea, was awarded the Lystra D Lewis Award for the top team of the year while the National Association of Athletics Administration (NAAA) received the Jeffrey Stollmeyer Award for administration.

 

First Citizens Sport Foundation

Sportsman of the Year- Roger Daniel

Sportswoman of the Year- Kelly Ann Baptiste

 

Top 10 Nominees 

(in no particular order)

Anisa Mohammed (Cricket)

Kwandwane Brown (Hockey)

Tamara Ribiero Bailey (Bodybuilding)

Ravi Rampaul (Cricket)

Kelly Ann Baptiste (Athletics)

Njisane Phillip (Cycling)

Monifa Sealy (Golf)

Roger Daniel (Shooting)

Rondel Sorrillo (Athletics)

Sheldon Bissessar (Automobile Sports)

 

Team of the Year - The 4 x 100m national women’s relay team (Lystra D Lewis Award)

Administration of the Year - National Association of Athletics Administration (NAAA) (Jeffrey Stollmeyer Award)