by Olalekan Okusan, ITTF Africa Press Officer
Announcing the nominees for the 18 categories, the Chair of the Nigerian Sports Award Panel, Kweku Tandoh, explained that he was highly excited about the massive response submitted by the public.
Nominations opened on Wednesday 23rd May and closed on Sunday 7th October; the names of the nominees being decided by the Awards Panel on Tuesday 9th October.
“We are quite excited that public interest for the awards has grown significantly, given the number of nominations received this year; for us, we have taken time to look at the nominees for the different categories and I can proudly say that the nominees selected for the categories deserve to be winners by all standards.” Kweku Tandoh
In addition, Quadri Aruna has been nominated in the racket sports person of the year section. Notably in addition to his success at the 2018 ITTF Challenge Seamaster Nigeria Open and ITTF African Championships, he won silver in both the Men’s Team and Men’s Singles events at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Voting now commences with immediate effect, commencing on Wednesday 10th October and concluding on Sunday 11th November; the public vote counts for 60 percent of the total, the remaining 60 per cent is the decision of the Awards Panel.
“This system ensures that while the public is allowed to participate in the selection of the eventual winners through voting, the Awards Panel can still select the most deserving candidates for each category. We do not want the voting process to become a popularity contest and this is why we introduced the formula.” Kweku Tandoh
The award ceremony is scheduled to hold at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotel and Suites on Friday 16th November.
Nigeria Sportsman of the Year: Voting Form