The SportMalta Awards reaches its peak this evening when the winners will be announced during a special evening at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.
Special guest for the occasion will be Jean Todt, the president of the International Autosport Federation, also well known for his connections with Ferrari in the past.
Todt will be arriving at the Malta International Airport early this afternoon, where he is scheduled to address a news conference, before proceeding to Hal Far to watch the local Drag Racing venue. He will later be taken to the Malta Hilton for an official lunch and in the evening will be attending the presentation ceremony.
The finalists for the SportMalta Awards – L-Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali – in the following categories: Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year, Best U-17 Athlete, Team of the Year and Official of the Year revealed by Għaqda Ġurnalisti Sports, include:
Sportsman of the Year: Mario Bonello – Athletics; Christopher Camilleri – Canoeing; William Chetcuti – Shooting; Massimo Cremona - Table Football; Andre Schembri - Football
Sportswoman of the Year: Sue Abela - Ten Pin Bowling; Danica Bonello Spiteri – Triathlon; Nicola Borg Costanzi - Canoeing
Rebecca Brincat Thoresen – Basketball; Davina Mangion - Swimming
Official of the Year: Esther Azzopardi – Football; Jesmond Caruana – Weightlifting; Joe Caruana Curran - Billiards and Snooker; Silvio Catania - Table Football; Antonio Mizzi - Basketball
Team of the Year: National women’s basketball team, Darren Vella and Clive Farrugia – Shooting; National table-football team; National triathlon team; National horse-racing team
Young athlete – John Debattista trophy: Daniel Bajada - Table Tennis; Nikki Muscat – Swimming; Mark Sammut – Swimming; Jeremy Saywell – Judo; Colette Sultana - Squash
In addition, the 10 finalists in the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year categories of the L-Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali are also in the running for the prestigious SportMalta Award.
The winner will emerge from a voting process which is made up of 40 per cent of the votes cast by the sports journalists, another 40 per cent from votes of association delegates present during the presentations’ night and the other 20 per cent from a public vote that gets via SMS televoting.
Accordingly anyone can vote for Malta’s best Athlete for the Year 2010 by sending an SMS on the number assigned to one’s preferred athlete. The public can vote by SMS for the winner of the SportMalta Award as follows: Abela Sue - Ten Pin Bowling (50616801), Bonello Mario – Athletics (50616802), Bonello Spiteri Danica – Triathlon (50616803), Borg Costanzi Nicola – Canoeing (50616804), Brincat Thoresen Rebecca – Basketball (50616805), Camilleri Christopher – Canoeing (50616806), Chetcuti William – Shooting (50616807), Cremona Massimo - Table Football (50616808), Mangion Davina – Swimming (50616809), and Schembri Andre – Football (50616810). Each SMS costs €0.37 cents. Televoting closes this evening at 10pm.