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Sports Reporter
THE Sports Commission are today expected to finally unveil the nominees for the Annual National Sports Awards to be held this month.

The unveiling ceremony was originally set for November 15 before it was moved to today due to logistical challenges.

Earlier on the Sports Commission had indicated that they had moved it to December 6.

But Sports Commission corporate communications officer Tirivashe Nheweyembwa said the unveiling will now be held today at their headquarters in Harare.

The awards will be held on December 13.

“We noted that the judges finished earlier than (what) had been planned and also it would work out to be better for us because the programme is too hectic for us.

“The date (for the awards) remain the same,” said Nheweyembwa.

Nheweyembwa said they have managed to retain their traditional sponsors Delta Corporation and there are likely to be other new sponsors this year with the awards’ budget set at US$80 000.

“Preparations are progressing well I can confirm we have managed to retain Delta Corporation and some other sponsors are coming on board,” said Nheweyembwa.

The closure for submission of nominees was on November 4 and all 17 categories have been retained for this year’s awards with athletes and officials expected to be honoured for gongs such as the Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year, Team of the Year and Coach of the Year.

There is also the Sport Development award and Sport Administration award for national sport associations that would have done well in terms of administration and development of their sport.

Former World Boxing Council welterweight silver champion Charles Manyuchi is the reigning Sportsperson of the Year after he was honoured at a ceremony held in January after the awards were moved to this year.

A number of cricketers, including Brendan Taylor, who won a prestigious tournament in English county cricket, are likely to fight for the Sportsperson of the Year award as well as karateka Samson Muripo, who won gold at the Third International So-kyokushin Karate tournament senior men open weight in February.

Muripo was second in the Under-90kg weight division and third in the kata competition at the same event.

Rising triple jumper Chengetayi Mapaya and Gabri Mgbemna are likely to fight for the Junior Sportsperson of the Year award after scooping gold medals at the African Junior Championships in Algeria. Mapaya got gold in triple jump while Mgbemna settled for gold in the girls 100m.

For the Team of the Year award, the Cheetahs are the favourites after they qualified for the Sevens World Cup next year. But there is also the netball senior team that got bronze at the Africa Championships in Uganda.

They are likely to be joined by the Davis Cup team that was promoted back into the Europe/Africa Zone Group II for 2018 after beating Kenya 2-0 in the promotional play-offs in July.

Zimbabwe were demoted to Africa Zone Group III last year but quickly bounced back to Group II after a good outing in Egypt this year.

The awards are organised to recognise and celebrate the highest sports accomplishments by athletes, administrators and technical officials.