Fennell to speak at Commonwealth Awards

Mike Fennell, the Jamaican chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation, will be the main speaker at the annual Commonwealth Sports Awards banquet scheduled for the Birming-ham International Conference Centre on Saturday, November 6, starting at 7 p.m.

Another speaker at the 29th anniversary of the Awards will be Councillor Mike Whitby, leader of the Birmingham Council.

Founded by Jamaica-born Al Hamilton, MBE, the first Common-wealth Sports Awards ceremony was held in 1980. It has since been staged in many cities across the globe - in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. it has non-governmental status in Britain, and is endorsed by the Commonwealth Games Federation, honouring sportsmen and sportswomen from the Commonwealth.

Coaches

In an effort to say thanks to everyone in sports, the awards do not only recognise sportsmen and sportswomen. They also recognise the efforts of coaches, officials, and organisers.

"I have always believed that a lot of sports depends on more than the athletes, and on people like coaches, officials, administrators, and others," said Hamilton, while talking about the awards recently. "In many respects, they are the heartbeat of sports, and we should not forget that."

Athletes, coaches, officials, and administrators are nominated by the various national associations, and the nominations are then passed on to a selection panel, chaired this time by Louise Martin, secretary of the Commonwealth Sports Awards Foundation.

Team awards

There are also team awards and life-time awards for sportsmen and sportswomen who have served with distinction for many years.

Former winners of the annual sportsman and sportswoman awards include, Maurice Hope, Lloyd Honeyghan - boxing, Desmond Douglas - table tennis, Garth Crooks - football, Jahanigar Khan - squash, Clive Lloyd, Courtney Walsh, Joel Garner - cricket, Daley Thompson, Colin Jackson, Linford Christie, Deon Hemmings, Asafa Powell, and Usain Bolt - track and field.

With the 2010 winners coming from performance from 2009 to 2010, with the World Champion-ships taking place in that time limit, the winners this year could include not only Bolt, but others like Shelly-Ann Fraser, Melaine Walker, and Brigitte Foster-Hylton.