National Sports Awards on July 16

Chris Dhambarage

The Ministry of Sports and Recreation joined hands with Dialog Telekom to initiate the country's largest ever National Sports Awards and felicitation ceremony which will be staged on July 16 at the BMICH in Colombo.

This mega event will felicitate a total of 219 sportsmen and sportswomen from across 15 sporting disciplines who have had the distinction of having secured glory and honour for Sri Lanka at international level.

This event is a brainchild of Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge and the main reason of this ceremony is to celebrate the glory and honour brought to the country by these great sporting heroes.

This awards ceremony which will be held every four years as a tribute to generations of sports people will also provide a promise made for the future generations by the Ministry's commitment to excellence through sports.

Olympic representatives from 1948 to 2004, medal winners and diplomats of Commonwealth Games, medal winners and diplomats of Asian Games and winners of the 1996 cricket World Cup and the runners up of the 2007 World Cup will be the main contenders for the awards.

The most outstanding sportsman, most outstanding sportswoman, most outstanding junior sportsman, and most outstanding disabled sports person categories will be decided by a panel of distinguished judges according to the nominations sent by the national federations.

In addition special awards will be presented to the winners in the categories of most popular sportsman, most popular sportswoman, most popular junior sportsman, most popular junior sportswoman and most popular disabled sports person.

These awards will be based on popular votes received from the general public through newspaper coupons and via Short Message Services (SMS).