RIO DE JANEIRO Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz leads a short but solid list of sports personalities and entities to be handed out with citations in the San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Annual Awards Night Saturday on March 27 at the TV5 Media Center.
The 30-year-old pride of Zamboanga City completed a three gold medal sweep in the women’s 55 kgs division of the Roma Weightlifting World Cup in Italy last year just before the pandemic to virtually assure herself of a berth in the Tokyo Olympics.
Diaz, who ended the country’s 20-year medal drought in the Olympics after bagging silver in Rio De Janeiro 2016, and 19 others are going to be cited by the country’s oldest media organization headed by Manila Bulletin sports editor Tito Talao in the virtual event co-presented by the Philippine Sports Commission and Cignal TV, with 1 Pacman Partylist and Rain or Shine as major backers.
Also to be cited are Vanessa Sarno of weightlifting, Tokyo Olympics-bound Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno of boxing and EJ Obiena of athletics (pole vault), Margielyn Didal and Motic Panugalinog of skateboarding OJ de los Santor of karatedo and Kristina Knott, Natalie Uy, William Morrison and Christine Hallasgo of athletics.
The other awardees are chess’s Sander Severino of chess, sambo’s Sydney Tancontian, cycling’s George Oconer and the Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance team and the four major leagues that successfully held their 2020 seasons in a bubble during the Covid-19 pandemic—Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Philippine Football League, Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 and National Basketball League.
Lady golfer Yuka Saso is on top of the honor roll as the recipient of the prestigious Athlete of the Year Award, an honor solely being handed out by the PSA.
Lifetime Achievement Awards will also be given to three pillars of Philippine sports—former Gintong Alay Project Director Jose Romasanta PBA seventh commissioner and current Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Executive Director Renauld “Sonny” Barrios, and former Ambassador and Philippine basketball godfather, the late Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco.
The Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines will be bestowed the National Sports Association of the Year award for the second straight time, while tennis prodigy Alex Eala and world boxing champions Johnriel Casimero and Pedro Taduran will receive major awards.
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