FILIPINO athletes who represented the country in the 2020 Olympic Games will be cited during the San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Annual Awards Night on March 14 at the Diamond Hotel.
Citations will be given to 19 athletes who carried the country’s colors in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics by the country’s oldest media organization when it holds its traditional awards ceremony presented by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), and Cignal TV.
The list of Olympians includes skateboarder Margielyn Didal, boxer Irish Magno, golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Juvic Pagunsan, weightlifter Elreen Ando, trackster Kristina Knott, swimmers Remedy Rule and Luke Gebbie, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe, rower Cris Nievarez, taekwondo jin Kurt Barbosa, and shooter Jayson Valdez.
The Paralympians include swimmers Ernie Gawilan and Gary Bejino, wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan, taekwondo jin Allain Ganapin, trackster Jeanette Aceveda, and powerlifter Achelle Guion.
A future Olympian in weightlifter Vanessa Sarno was added to the list for winning two gold medals and a silver in the women’s 71kg division of the Asian Women’s Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The rest of the Olympians, led by first gold medal winner Hidilyn Diaz, who will be feted with the PSA Athlete of the Year award, will receive other recognitions such as the President’s Award (Yuka Saso and Carlos Yulo) and Major Awards (Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, Eumir Felix Marcial, and EJ Obiena).
Also receiving a major award is US Open men’s billiards champion Carlo Biado.
All awardees, athletes, officials, guests, and PSA members are required to bring their vaccination cards to be allowed entry to venue.
A compact list of 39 athletes, officials, and entities make up the 2021 batch of awardees to be feted by the Philippine sportswriting fraternity during the gala night backed by Milo, 1Pacman, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Philracom, Rain or Shine, ICTSI, Chooks To Go, MVP Sports Foundation, and Smart.
