Valhmor Camilleri
2008 winners Chetcuti, Abela make final list
File photo... Sue Abela receiving the 2008 award from KMS chairman Bernard Vassallo last year.
Double trap shooter William Chetcuti and bowling ace Sue Abela are in line to retain their honours in the SportMalta Awards - Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali after they were named among the finalists for the 2009 contest.
The winners will be announced during a presentations night at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, on January 16.
Charles Camenzuli, president of the Għaqda Ġurnalisti ta' l-iSport, told a news conference yesterday that this year's 49th edition of the sports awards will, in the main, retain the format of the previous years.
He said that in the coming days association members will receive the voting documents to choose their preferred candidates in each of the five categories.
"2009 has been another great year for Maltese sport and I think this contest is the one that comes closest to rewarding the best sports personalities that excelled most during the past 12 months," Camenzuli said.
"This year our association is benefiting from the assistance of the Kunsill Malti għall-Isport who have taken an active role to raise the profile of these awards.
"We have the same objectives and we hope that this partnership will continue to blossom in future years."
Chetcuti, the 2008 Sportsman of the Year, is again among the five finalists but this time he has to contend with the challenge of Aaron Ciantar, the two-times P1 world champion, and Charles Degiorgio (horse racing), Alex Borg (snooker) and Nikolai Portelli (athletics).
Abela, last year's top female athlete, also faces stiff competition in her category as she will be up against basketball player Rebecca Brincat Thorensen, who led the national team to a gold medal in the GSSE, Therese Brousson Camilleri (squash), Kim Cassar (tennis) and triathlon champion Danica Spiteri.
In the Team of the Year, Ciantar, winner of this award last year with Conam Yachts, is again among the finalists as his Chaudron Seagull outfit have been shortlisted along with the national teams of squash (women), basketball (women), waterpolo and skeet shooting.
There will be a new Official of the Year for 2009 as the previous winner, Saviour Portelli, president of the Malta Shooting Sport Federation, is not among the finalists this time round.
The winner will emerge from Frank Camilleri (basketball), Terry Camilleri (snooker), MFA president Joe Mifsud, Tonio Cini (motor sport) and Malta Judo Federation president Envic Galea.
In the U-17 category, the five finalists are Kirsty Caruana (gymnastics), Sam Deguara (basketball), Clive Farrugia (shooting), Colette Sultana (squash) and Thomas Zammit Tabona (sailing).
Special feats
During the presentations night, the organisers will also recognise the feat of Special Olympics duo Michael Calleja and Alexia Wetz for their excellent performances on the international scene.
Bernard Vassallo, the KMS chairman, yesterday explained how the winners of the SportsMalta Awards will be determined.
"All 10 finalists in the journalists' Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year categories are in line to receive our awards this year," Vassallo said.
"Our winners will be declared after a voting process which is made up of 40 per cent of the votes cast by the sports journalists, another 40 per cent from votes of association delegates present during the presentations' night and the other 20 per cent from a public vote that gets underway via SMS in the coming days."
The gala night, to be broadcast live on TVM, will be presented by Norma Saliba and Keith Demicoli.
The Finalists
Sportsman of the Year: A. Borg (snooker), W. Chetcuti (shooting), A. Ciantar (powerboats), C. Degiorgio (horse racing), N. Portelli (athletics).
Sportswoman of the Year: S. Abela (bowling), R. Brincat Thorensen (basketball), T. Brousson Camilleri (squash), K. Cassar (tennis), D. Spiteri (triathlon).
U-17 award: K. Caruana (gymnastics), S. Deguara (basketball), C. Farrugia (shooting), C. Sultana (squash), T. Zammit Tabona (sailing).
Team of the Year: women's basketball team, Chaudron Seagull (powerboats), women's squash national team, waterpolo national team, skeet shooting team.
Official of the Year: F. Camilleri (basketball), T. Camilleri (snooker), T. Cini (motorsport), E. Galea (judo), J. Mifsud (football).
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Bernard Vassallo
Jan 5th 2010, 19:05
I believe that my friend, Henry Calleja, may have inoffensively misinterpreted the article. I write on behalf of Kunsill Malti għall-iSport who is assisting in a great way the Għaqda Kittieba Sports and is taking both an active role and also investing in order to raise significantly the profile of this event, the SportMalta Awards – Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali which will be screened, after a number of years, live on TVM. I can put Mr. Calleja’s mind to rest that it isn’t the intention of KMS to do away with the usual GħKS awards. These will still be carried out and the same criteria and voting procedure as in the past years will be used, i.e. only the sport journalists chose the final selection and will be ultimately voting. This year’s novel award, the SportMalta Award, organised by KMS, will be the one where journalists will have 40% of the final vote (+20% coming from the public vote + 40% from officials of national associations, registered with KMS, present in the Mediterranean Centre Conference Hall (first time hosting this event). This single award will be contested by the respective five male and female finalists as chosen by GħKS.
Alfred Farrugia
Jan 5th 2010, 15:34
My friend Henry Calleja may be correct in his views based on his own integrity and overall knowledge of what is going on in the sports sector in Malta. But the same may not necessarily be true of all sports writers and sports journalists, a good number of whom seem to follow local and foreign football to the exclusion of several other sports. How many of these have been to local and foreign motor sports events where Maltese drivers participated?
It is heartening to note that an official representing motor sport has made it to the finals of the SWA awards this year. Where is the recognition of our young and not-so-young Maltese racing drivers who excelled in foreign competitions? Have no sports journalists taken any notice of any of these – as was the case with the MOC awards?
SWA awards might be more accurate than MOC awards, but they still have a long way to go to be fair and just – through no fault of Henry. Perhaps I expect too much. Could sports journalists have their own agenda, or simply not know better? How many have written an article on local motor sports?
Henry Calleja
Jan 5th 2010, 13:12
Reading this detailed report I feel totally dismayed at the way this year's edition of the 'Sportivi Nazzjonali tas-Sena' is being organised. As a regualr member and an ex-president of the SportsWriters' Association for 17 years, I think that the new committee forgot how difficult it was for the previous committees to finally persuade the Malta Olympic Committee to let the SWA organize exclusively this award ceremony. We always argued that sportswriters and presenters are in the best position to choose the right people for the awards. MOC representatives and the public have different motives behind their choices. But the journalists have their own prestige at stake and always came out with a right verdict.
All this has now disappeared as the journalists have only 40% of the voting power and are in a great minority compared to the 20% public vote and the 40% association representatives attending the final night .
All other entities have all the right to organise their own awards, as the MOC have done in recent years, but the SWA should have continued to be the exclusive organisers of the Sportivi. They should have never accepted this new system at all.