The San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Awards Night is going to cite a long list of athletes, personalities, and entities on Jan. 29 at the grand ballroom of the Diamond Hotel.
Gold medalists of the 19th Asian Games, 32nd Southeast Asian Games, Asian Para Games, and ASEAN Para Games make up the bulk of the citations to be handed out by the 75-year-old media organization under its president Nelson Beltran, sports editor of The Philippine Star.
The country won four golds in the Hangzou Asiad, 58 golds in the Cambodia SEA Games, and 34 and 10 golds in the Asiad and ASEAN Para Games, respectively.
World no. 2 pole vaulter EJ Obiena will receive two citations for his record-breaking feats in both the regional meet, apart from the Athlete of the Year award to be bestowed on him during the traditional awards night presented by ArenaPlus, the leading sports entertainment in the Philippines, along with major sponsors Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, PLDT/Smart, and Cignal and backed up by the Philippine Basketball Association, Premier Volleyball League, 1-Pacman Partylist Rep. Mikee Romero, and Rain or Shine.
Registration starts at 6 p.m. Awardees and guests who won’t be able to receive a hard copy of their invitations can get it diretly at the registration table of the venue on the same day.
Aside from Obiena, Gilas Pilipinas men’s basketball team and the jiu-jitsu pair of Annie Ramirez and Margarita ‘Meggie’ Ochoa accounted for the three other gold medals the Philippines won in Hangzhou, China.
Others to be cited are Bianca Bustamante (motorsport), Creamline Cool Smashers (volleyball), Philippine Boys Bowling Team, Mark Lester Ragay, Mark Anthony Polo, and Vincent Ventura (wushu), Team Bago City and Team Manila (softball), AP Bren (esports), Efren Bagamasbad (chess), Standard Insurance Centennial V (sailing), Kaila Napolis (jiu-jitsu), Darius Venerable (taekwondo), Rhichein Yosorez and Alyssa Mallari (muay thai), Kevin Pascua (obstacle course), and Veronica Ompod (powerlifting).
Double gold medalists Carlos Yulo of gymnastics will also be part of those to be cited in the Cambodia SEA Games, along with Olympians Eric Cray (track and field) Carlo Paalam (boxing), Nesthy Petecio (boxing), Kirstie Alora (taekwondo), Kurt Barbosa (taekwondo), among others.
Also to be honored is karate gold medal winner Jamie Lim, whose late father, basketball great Avelino ‘Samboy’ Lim, will be recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award,
Among the Para athletes, showing the way are multi-medalists Ernie Gawilan, Darry Bernardo, Menandro Redor, Henry Roger Lopez, Angel Otom, Gary Bejino, Ariel Joseph Alegarbes, Jerrold Mangliwan, Cendy Asusano, Andrei Kuizon, Evaristo Carbonel, Cheyzer Mendoza, Sander Severino, Armand Subaste, among others.
