Sports awards go to deserving athletes
The 14th edition of the MTC/NSC Namibia Sports Awards ended on a high note on Friday evening at Windhoek Country Club.
The highlight of the night was Julius 'Blue Machine' Indongo who took Sports Achiever of the Year, as well as Sportsman of the Year.
The sports star, who had done tremendously well during the year, said his hard work for the last 16 years had paid off and he owed everything to God.
Also on the night MTC launched the Sports Legends programme, aimed at celebrating Namibian talent, legendary sporting and historic performances. Seventeen former and current Namibian sport personalities were honoured with blazers as a token of appreciation.
MTC executive Tim Ekandjo called on Namibians to avoid talking negatively about Namibian sport personalities.
“We want to celebrate historical performances which made us proud, performances that united us and those that made us reminisce about the good old days we will always remember,” he said.
He added that the aim was also to create a hall of fame of appreciation, rather than shaming sporting heroes.
Ekandjo said this was the beginning of appreciating Namibians who have put the country on the world map through sports.
He acknowledged that it was impossible to bring all the legends in one night but they were looking forward to honouring more in the near future.
“The MTC Sports Legends initiative was a special one and certainly demonstrating MTC's overall commitment to celebrating and recognising excellent, extraordinary and memorable performances that made the country and its people proud to be Namibian,” he added.
He further said that they are not only MTC's legends but Namibian legends that belong to all of us.
“So we encourage others to come on board and show appreciation whether it is a street name or whatever.
“We are all aware that there are so many more pre-independence era sporting heroes, and we hope that this initiative will provoke the sport commission to establish a hall of fame for sport in Namibia,” Ekandjo said.
As part of the accolade bestowed on them, the sport personalities will all receive N$10 000 and free airtime for an undisclosed period while also getting the honour of attending any MTC-sponsored event for free.
The 17 Namibians who were honoured are; Harry Simon, (Boxing Frank Fredericks, Luketz Swartbooi, (Athletics, Eliphas Shivute, (Football), Congo Hindjou, (Football), Trevor Dodds (Golf), (Marathon/Road Running), Ricardo Mannetti, (Football), Ronnie Kanalelo, (Football), , Razundara Tjikuzu, (Football), Collin Benjamin, (Football), Paulus Moses, (Boxing), Johanna Benson, (Athletics: Paralympics), Paulus Ambunda, (Boxing)
Monica Dahl, (Swimming), Jacques Burger, (Rugby), Julius Indongo, (Boxing) and Nestor Tobias (Boxing).
Below are the other winners:
Sportswoman of the Year: Helalia Johannes.
Sportsman of the Year with Disability: Johannes Nambala
Sportswoman of the Year with Disability: Lahja Ishitile
Coach of the Year: Nestor Tobias
Junior Sportsman of the Year: Delano Muller
Junior Sportswoman of the Year: Charlize van Zyl
Junior Sportsman of the Year with Disability: Dian Jansen
Junior Sportswoman of the Year with Disability: Olivia Iyambo
Sports Team of the Year: U/20 national rugby team
Umpire/ Referee of the Year: Jackson Pavaza
Development Programme of the Year: Coaches/Umpire Development Programme by Netball Namibia, and Sports
Journalist of the Year: Otniel Hembapu.
LIMBA MUPETAMI
The sports star, who had done tremendously well during the year, said his hard work for the last 16 years had paid off and he owed everything to God.
Also on the night MTC launched the Sports Legends programme, aimed at celebrating Namibian talent, legendary sporting and historic performances. Seventeen former and current Namibian sport personalities were honoured with blazers as a token of appreciation.
MTC executive Tim Ekandjo called on Namibians to avoid talking negatively about Namibian sport personalities.
“We want to celebrate historical performances which made us proud, performances that united us and those that made us reminisce about the good old days we will always remember,” he said.
He added that the aim was also to create a hall of fame of appreciation, rather than shaming sporting heroes.
Ekandjo said this was the beginning of appreciating Namibians who have put the country on the world map through sports.
He acknowledged that it was impossible to bring all the legends in one night but they were looking forward to honouring more in the near future.
“The MTC Sports Legends initiative was a special one and certainly demonstrating MTC's overall commitment to celebrating and recognising excellent, extraordinary and memorable performances that made the country and its people proud to be Namibian,” he added.
He further said that they are not only MTC's legends but Namibian legends that belong to all of us.
“So we encourage others to come on board and show appreciation whether it is a street name or whatever.
“We are all aware that there are so many more pre-independence era sporting heroes, and we hope that this initiative will provoke the sport commission to establish a hall of fame for sport in Namibia,” Ekandjo said.
As part of the accolade bestowed on them, the sport personalities will all receive N$10 000 and free airtime for an undisclosed period while also getting the honour of attending any MTC-sponsored event for free.
The 17 Namibians who were honoured are; Harry Simon, (Boxing Frank Fredericks, Luketz Swartbooi, (Athletics, Eliphas Shivute, (Football), Congo Hindjou, (Football), Trevor Dodds (Golf), (Marathon/Road Running), Ricardo Mannetti, (Football), Ronnie Kanalelo, (Football), , Razundara Tjikuzu, (Football), Collin Benjamin, (Football), Paulus Moses, (Boxing), Johanna Benson, (Athletics: Paralympics), Paulus Ambunda, (Boxing)
Monica Dahl, (Swimming), Jacques Burger, (Rugby), Julius Indongo, (Boxing) and Nestor Tobias (Boxing).
Below are the other winners:
Sportswoman of the Year: Helalia Johannes.
Sportsman of the Year with Disability: Johannes Nambala
Sportswoman of the Year with Disability: Lahja Ishitile
Coach of the Year: Nestor Tobias
Junior Sportsman of the Year: Delano Muller
Junior Sportswoman of the Year: Charlize van Zyl
Junior Sportsman of the Year with Disability: Dian Jansen
Junior Sportswoman of the Year with Disability: Olivia Iyambo
Sports Team of the Year: U/20 national rugby team
Umpire/ Referee of the Year: Jackson Pavaza
Development Programme of the Year: Coaches/Umpire Development Programme by Netball Namibia, and Sports
Journalist of the Year: Otniel Hembapu.
LIMBA MUPETAMI
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