Fiji jav thrower Leslie Copland won best male athlete and sports personality of the year in the FASNOC awards. Javelin throwing is a great sport to watch, but a hard sport to practice, often alone with few colleagues to throw against. Congratulations Leslie. And congratulations also to Matila Waqanidrola for winning the award for female athlete of the year, a netball player. Great to see healthy young people focussed on doing their very best in their chosen sports.
from Fiji Times today:
Sports can unite people: Lakhan
Monday, February 26, 2007
The photo shows: Winners are grinners ... Matila Waqanidrola and Leslie Copeland with their awards
Indra Singh writes:
SPORTS should be given the top priority if a choice has to be made because it breaks all the boundaries and gets people of all walks of life together. This was the message from Fiji Association of Sports and National Committee president Vidhya Lakhan during the annual awards night in Suva on Saturday night. The awards were held to honor athletes and officials for their tremendous work both on and off the field.
Lakhan said there were many people who during turbulent times had to make choices and most of the times sports was made to suffer due to these choices. "I know that there are times when decisions have to be made and I urge all that when it comes to making a decision between sports and other issue, sports should be given the priority," Lakhan said. "We know most of the sports are run by volunteers and when we lose them than this affects sports." He said during moments of uncertainty sports brought people together. "We have seen that sports play a major role in bringing people together," he said.
Lakhan said there were many people who during turbulent times had to make choices and most of the times sports was made to suffer due to these choices. "I know that there are times when decisions have to be made and I urge all that when it comes to making a decision between sports and other issue, sports should be given the priority," Lakhan said. "We know most of the sports are run by volunteers and when we lose them than this affects sports." He said during moments of uncertainty sports brought people together. "We have seen that sports play a major role in bringing people together," he said.
Fiji's top javelin thrower Leslie Copeland was the toast of the night as he scooped two of the top awards on offer. He was awarded the Sports Personality of the Year and the Athlete of the Year Male. He thanked his coaches and all those who had helped him reach his goals. "I am very happy with the awards and I'll use it to work harder and improve further," Copeland said.
Athlete of the Year Female, Fiji netball skipper Matila Waqanidrola said the win was for netball as the team was preparing for the South Pacific Games and the World Championships this year.
"Hopefully this win will help lift the sport further as we have two big events this year," Waqanidrola said.
Winners:Sports Organisation of the Year-Fiji Swimming Association; Sports Administrator of the Year-Cindy Bolakoso; Technical Official of the Year-Jashint Maharaj; Coach of the Year-James Goulding; Sports Volunteer of the Year-Anthony Ho; Sports Photograph of the Year-Mark Vele, President's Commendations-Mark Vele, Iliesa Delana; Rajnesh Prakash.
-----
Comment:
If the current 'cleaners' would concentrate on getting athletics and other sports into all the schools instead of chasing lads who get lost and get a taste for soft drugs, Fiji would be a better place and there would be healthier young adults in the future.
(added later - Copeland won gold at Samoa)
This will not actually have effect, I think so.
ReplyDelete