Four athletes honored in LG/SJAK monthly awards

• Four athletes were announced winners
• They won once each between January and April
• LG has sponsored the award to a tune of Sh3.5mn

Kenyan National Rugby Sevens team (Shujaa) star Patrick Odongo, Sirikwa Classic Cross-Country champion Emmaculate Anyango, trailblazing tennis super star Angela Okutoyi and indefatigable lady marathoner Peres Jepchirchir were handed awards by the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK), following their performances in the opening four months of the year.

The quartet was handed the award after sponsors LG, renewed their partnership with SJAK, one that has now spanned four years. The renewal is worth Sh3.5mn.

Odongo, Anyango, Okutoyi and Peres were named as winners for January to April respectively.

January winner, Odongo, was instrumental in Shujaa’s opening leg of the Challenger Series in Dubai by scoring six tries.

He scored the two crucial tries in the final match against Chile to see Kenya win the leg 12-5. His impressive performance saw him emerge as the clear winner of the award, ahead of other nominees Pamela Adhiambo of Kenya Pipeline volleyball, and footballers Eric Kapaito and Tito Okello, and hockey star Bethuel Masambu, among others.

Anyango beats star studded field to win Feb LG Award

Emmaculate Anyango receives her award

In February, Anyango beat a star-studded field to win the Sirikwa Classic Cross Country in Eldoret.

This earned her the month’s SPOM mention ahead of rally driver Saman Vohra and junior athlete Gedion Kipngetich. Vohra won the KNRC Eldoret Rally during that month, while Kipngetich was the Africa under 20 Cross Country Championship winner.

March winner, Okutoyi, who broke the long-standing All Africa Games record in Accra, Ghana, became the first athlete to win the SPOM award four times.

She beat seven nominees to the award, including Edwin Okong’o, Emily Ngi, Aaron Cheminingwa, Mary Moraa, Brian Komen, Janet Chepngetich, Michael Olunga, and Beatrice Chebet. Okutoyi became the new African Games champion after beating Egyptian opponent Lamis Elhussein Abdelaziz 6-4, 6-2 in a gold medal match at TC Tennis Complex in Accra, Ghana.

The win broke Kenya’s 46-year spell without a tennis singles medal, with Okutoyi becoming the second Kenyan player since Jane Davies-Doxzon (1978) to win gold at the prestigious continental showpiece.

Peres storms ahead of young blood

Jepchirchir, who won the London Marathon, bagged the April SPOM award ahead of Velma Awuor from the Plateau queens (Chapa Dimba Best Player – Girls) and Armstrong Omondi from Obunga (Chapa Dimba Best Player – Boys).

Revered among the greatest female distance runners of all time, she crossed the London tape in two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds, breaking the women’s-only record, previously held by Mary Keitany, by 45 seconds.

Peres Jepchirchir receives the award joined by her family.

With the recognition, each winner walked home with personalized trophy and LG Top Freezer Refrigerator retailing at Ksh 73,000.

Speaking during the event, LG’s Marketing Manager, Changhyun Kim, underscored the essence of celebrating Kenya’s world-beating sports personalities, noting,

“At LG Electronics, we are committed to the empowerment of the communities in which we operate, and the SPOM Award has over the last decade been a key avenue for us to showcase to upcoming generations the importance of talent recognition.”

Long standing partnership

“Our partnership with SJAK dates back to 2015, when we supported the KPL monthly award, before the Sports Personality of the Month Award was inaugurated in 2017. Indeed, over this period, we have seen many of our award winners go on to secure even greater feats,” further said the LG boss.

The SPOM Award has in the past rewarded trailblazing athletes, some of whom have gone the extra mile to break world records, and take their careers to the next level.

Among its notable former recipients are world record holder Faith Kipyegon; the late world men’s marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum; basketballers Beatrice Chebet, Victoria Reynolds; reigning African Rally Champion Karan Patel; rally star McRae Kimathi; handballer, Brenda Ariviza, and two-time Olympic champion, Eliud Kipchoge, as well as Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala, amongst others.