KABUL, December 20, 2016 – The AfghanistanSports Journalists Federation (ASJF) on Sunday declared the winners of the AfghanistanSport Pride Awards. The awards included those for Best Athletes, SportsOrganization of the year, Cricket Player of the year, Football Player of theYear, Sport Personality of the Year, Sport Journalist of the Year, Radio SportJournalist of the Year, TV Sport Journalist of the Year, Commentator of theYear, Online Media Sport Journalist of the Year, Social Media Sports Analyst ofthe Year, Changing Lives through Sport and Physical Activity, Coach of theYear, Community Club of the Year, Supporting Company of the Year, Young SportsReporter of the Year, Sports Critics of the Year, Encouraging Sports of theYear and Sports Website of the Year.
President of the Afghanistan SportJournalists Federation Mr. Sayer Zaland welcomed journalists and top athletesfrom all over the country in the central Kabul Province and capital ofAfghanistan, where 123 members of the ASJF and nine members of EC Committee metfor the second time in 2016 after the first ever historic Afghanistan SportsJournalists Congress in Kabul in April, ahead of the ceremony.
A speaker of the Afghanistan Senate, amember of Parliament, the new elected chairman of ACB, the NOC and top AFFofficials and representatives attended the event along with more than 500journalists, athletes, media representatives, sports fans, winners of theAfghanistan Sport Pride Awards and activist of the civil society.
ASJF President Sayer Zaland said during theopening of the first ever ceremony of Sports Awards in Afghanistan that somesports departments were victims of politics and ‘two-faced policies.’ He warnedthat if irregularities at sports were not addressed, it would eclipse the gainsachieved so far.
Zaland explained that the Sport PrideAwards is an annual awards ceremony to celebrate the achievements of thenation’s clubs, coaches, schools, sports organizations, workplaces, athletes,sports journalists who performed well during the previous year.
He added further that ASJF’s aim is to laythe ground for long-term improvement. “[ASJF] is designed to build capacitiesamong Afghan journalists on a grassroots’ level and want to address the mostpressing issues on local level which are currently hardly covered by the Afghanmedia during the FIFA World Cup, Rio Olympic Games and many other sporttournaments,” he said.
Afghanistan Senate chairman Mr. Fazl HadiMuslimyar, who attended the event, appreciated the federation’s efforts atpromoting sports. The Meshrano Jirga chairman promised the parliament,particularly the upper house, would try to resolve problems concerning sportsand would support players.
Parliament member Mr. Abdulqadir Zazi, Atif Mashal, the new Chairman of ACB, M.Yousaf karger, Deputy of AFF congratulates ASJF for the big achievement andconfirmed the everyone is with them.
The winners of Afghanistan Sport PrideAwards were picked based on votes they received online as part of thecompetition. At a ceremony held in this regard in Kabul, ASJF President SayerZaland said the Afghan players had brought many laurels home and the aim oftheir federation is to encourage them and demand facilities for them. Theawards were also given to ‘best coach of the year’, best player of the year,best football reporter, sports photographer, best TV anchor, radio commentatorand best disable player of the year and several others
The former CEO of the Afghanistan CricketBoard Mr. Hamid Shinwari was awarded as the best Sports Personality of theYear, while the Football Federation of Afghanistan got the Award for the bestSports Organization.
The young and emerging player Rashid KhanArman got the Cricket Player of the Year Award who got his position inAfghanistan cricket national in a very short time.
Ismlamudin Amiri, the former captain of thenational football team who was absent from the team for the past two yearsbefore making a return this year was awarded as the Best Football Players ofthe Year with a high number of votes.
VOA Pasto anchor and sports journalistsMatiullah Abid got the sports Journalists Award title while young journalistSebghatullah Atif, from the distant Khost province got the Radio SportsJournalist of the Year Award.
For the best TV Presenter of the Year,there was a tough competition among the nation’s top anchors, but it wasfinally Amanullah Qaisari who won the Award.
ASJF member Feroz Mashof got the TV Sport Journalistof the Year Award and Kamia Yousufi, the only female member of Afghanistan atthe Rio 2016 Olympics won the Female Sports Athlete of the Year title.
Manizha Amini won the Female SportsReporter of the year award who is working for Youth Radio and head ofAfghanistan Badminton Federation Mastora Arezo won the female sportsPersonality of the Year Award.
For the Coach of the Year there were sometop coaches like Peter Sigret, the former coach of football national team,lalchand Rajpot Afghanistan cricket team current coach but the U19 cricketnational team coach won the prize for the best coach of 2016.
Pajhwok Afghan News was chosen for the bestwebsite for sports news
The winners and participants said the eventwas a useful initiative that could encourage those in the field of sports tostrive for more.