The past links with the present in a celebration to remember to toast the best and brightest of 2022 in the San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association Annual Awards Night Monday at the grand ballroom of the Diamond Hotel.
Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz hands down, is the star of the night as she will be feted with the prestigious Athlete of the Year award for the second straight time exclusively by the oldest media organization in the Philippines headed by its president Rey Lachica, sports editor of Tempo.
Diaz, 31, leads the huge honor roll made up of close to 100 awardees who will be honored on this memorable night that will also have the late track great Lydia De Vega being elevated to the PSA Hall of Fame and bosom buddy Elma Muros-Posadas being recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Former Project Gintong Alay director Michael Keon, current mayor of Laoag City, will be among the special guests as he personally reminisces the good old glory days when De Vega, Muros-Posadas, among others, were the toast of Philippine track and field.
Other bigwigs led by Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann and Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino will grace the formal affair when rising tennis star Alex Eala is bestowed with the President’s Award, and Olympians EJ Obiena, Carlos Yulo, and Carlo Paalam, along with the Philippine Women’s football team and 11 others are presented with the Major Awards.
Veteran sportscaster Sev Sarmenta and lovely sports journalist and host Rizza Diaz will anchor the gala night presented by the PSC and Cignal TV, and ably backed by the POC, Tagaytay City Mayor Bambol Tolentino, MILO, Smart, MVP Sports Foundation, Rain or Shine, 1Pacman Rep. Mikee Romero, Philippine Basketball Association, OKBet, ICTSI, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
Other special awards to be given are Executive of the Year (Tolentino), National Sports Association of the Year (Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas), Mr. Basketball (Scottie Thompson), Ms. Football (Sarina Bolden), and the MILO Champion of Grit and Glory award (Diaz).
A long list of citations will also be handed out led by the gold medal winners in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games, as well as the Tony Siddayao Awards, PSA Special Awards, and the Lifetime Award in sports journalism.
There will be a special posthumous tribute to be given to De Vega and a host of other athletes, officials, and personalities who passed away last year.
The Athlete of the Year award is the fourth in the last seven years for Diaz since first winning it in 2016 when she ended the country’s 20-year Olympic drought with a silver medal finish in the Rio De Janeiro Games.
The Filipina weightlifter became the latest to be honored with the highest Philippine sports award three or more times after the legendary Manny Pacquiao, Paeng Nepomuceno, Bong Coo, De Vega, Luisito Espinosa, Nonito Donaire Jr, and Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes.