THE Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) has postponed its Annual Sports Awards (Ansa) to January 20 next year amid reports that they are struggling to raise funds for the ceremony.
BY HENRY MHARA
They had initially wanted to hold the ceremony on December 14.
The awards are sponsored by Delta Beverages, who last year cut down their sponsorship of the ceremony to $20 000, leaving the SRC in a financial quandary.
SRC corporate and communications officer, Tirivashe Nheweyembwa could not be reached for comment yesterday, as he was not answering his phone but sources yesterday suggested that they have moved the dates to have more time to mobilise resources.
The decline in sponsorship has forced the SRC to slash the prize money by more than half.
A statement by the commission says the postponement has been necessitated by a number of reasons such as the non-availability of some of the guests that were targeted to grace the occasion.
It added that most of the national sport associations have indicated that their athletes and officials were not going to be available during the said date.
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“After consulting with the stakeholders involved with the organisation of the Ansa ceremony, we decided to defer the hosting of the ceremony. However, all the other preparations and processes remain unchanged serve for the unveiling of the nominees, which will now take place on January 13. On behalf of the SRC board management and staff, I would like to thank all stakeholders especially Delta Corporation for their understanding and hopefully the ceremony will be a huge success,” SRC official, Daniel Kuwengwa, said.
Ansa awards are held annually to honour and celebrate outstanding achievements of the selected sportspersons.
Boxing superstar, Charles Manyuchi, is the front runner to scoop the prestigious Sportsperson of the Year after winning the WBC welterweight silver title by bashing Russian Dmitry Mikhaylenko in May this year.
He followed that up with another feat in his homecoming fight by flooring Columbian opponent, Jose Augustin Julio Feria in a World Boxing Council (WBC) non-title fight at the Harare International Conference Centre in October.
Manyuchi won the Sportsperson of the Year award in 2013, but was surprisingly overlooked last year despite being the overwhelming favourite, having successfully defended his WBC welterweight title by defeating Italian Gianculla Frezza.
The big prize eventually went to bodybuilder, Helen Costa-Sinclair, but Manyuchi’s achievements couldn’t go unnoticed, as he bagged the Sportsman of the Year award.
There are 17 categories up for grabs including the Team of the Year award, which could see the Warriors and their female counterparts, the Mighty Warriors, going toe-to-toe, having both qualified for their respective Africa Cup of Nations finals.
