MOTORSPORT sensation Axcil Jefferies and teenage golfer Sean Crocker were major exclusions from the list of nominations for the Annual National Sports Awards (Ansa) unveiled by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) yesterday.
REPORT BY HENRY MHARA SPORTS REPORTER
A total of 120 nominees were announced.
The list will be trimmed to 75 at the end of this month before the announcement of winners on December 13.
However, Jefferies and Crocker, would not be in the running when the country’s finest achievers of the 2012 sporting season are honoured, despite having an excellent year in their respective disciplines.
The 18-year-old Jefferies was a revelation in his debut season in Formula Two (F2) this year, finishing 12th and winning points in eight races.
He is only the second African driver to compete in F2 after Ricardo Teixeira, who raced for Angola in 2010.
United States-based Crocker (15) has been outstanding on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit, finishing in the top 20 in all the six AJGA starts this season.
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He finished a remarkable 16th out of 200 participants from 70 countries at the Junior World Golf Championships in Califonia in July this year and was subsequently honoured. Crocker was a recipient of the Rolex junior All-American awards.
In a year when most Zimbabweans did not perform to expectations, the two surely deserved to be on the list.
Paul Nenjerama, the chairperson of the panel explained: “We only adjudicate on the names that have been forwarded to us by respective associations and if those names have not been forwarded to the SRC we cannot do anything.
“Sometimes there are issues that you might not be aware of concerning these athletes and their associations.
“They are the best people to answer why those athletes are not on the list. As long as their names are not forwarded to us, we cannot adjudicate.”
Last year, Ngoni Makusha was disqualified for failing to meet a “certain criteria”.
Brendon De Jonge, who has been arguably the country’s face of golf this year, is now top favourite to clinch the coveted Sportsperson of the Year Award.
The Zimbabwe national rugby side, the Sables, are a sure bet to win the Team of the Year Award after they won the Car Africa Cup trophy this year and so is their coach Brandon Dawson, in the Coach of the Year category.
