Sports awards attract huge interest

The Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee have been inundated with nominations for this year’s sports awards to be held on Tuesday, May 25.

CISNOC sports manager Robert Graham says that in the 12 years he has worked for the national sports body he has never seen such a huge response to the call for nominations for the sports award.

He says that this is a reflection of what a big year of sports 2009 was for the Cook Islands.

He adds that the huge response is also a show of how much pride there is within our sporting community for our athletes.

“I feel sorry for the judges,” Graham said on the huge task ahead of selecting which athletes take the top honours.

Former All Blacks flanker and reality television ‘Dancing with the Stars’ contestant Josh Kronfield has also been confirmed at this year’s guest speaker at the awards.

While winners of the various sports award categories will not be known until the night of awards, it has been confirmed that former CISNOC president and athlete Tiki Matapo, Jim Little and Inatio Akaruru will be inducted in the hall of sports fame on the night of the awards.

The sport awards categories are: Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year, Junior Sportsman of the Year, Junior Sportswoman of the Year, Sports Team of the Year, Sports Technical Official of the year, Sports Administrator of the Year, Coach of the year, Fair Play Award, Sports Achievement Award, IOC Sports Personality of the Year Award, Best Administrated Outer Island Sports Association, Outer Island Sports Achievement and the Mamia Tunui Savage memorial trophy for women in sport.