NEW YORK – World 100-metres record holder, Asafa Powell will be honored at an International Sports Awards (ISA) banquet in New York on Saturday, February 3.
Voted Male Athlete of the Year by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) last year, Powell is among an impressive list of personalities from the world of sports who are being recognized for their accomplishments in various disciplines by the International Sports Group (ISG), a New York-based consortium headed by Jamaican entrepreneur, Patrick Payne.
The list of honorees include other Jamaicans such as: Sherone Simpson, voted most outstanding female athlete for 2006; Neville ‘Teddy’ McCook, former president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) and now an IAAF Hemispheric Representative; Rev. Canon Dr. Gervais Clarke, regarded as one of the best administrators in track and field competitions; Dr. Gladstone O. ‘Bunny’ Byfield, noted FIFA Instructor; Mark Smith, golf instructor/businessman of Moments Golf Club, N.Y., and Walter Henning, the current world junior record holder in the hammer throw event.
Consul General of Jamaica to New York, Dr. Basil K. Bryan, will serve as patron of the awards banquet, which will be held at the Long Island Marriott Hotel, Uniondale, beginning at 7:00 p.m.
In making the announcement at a planning meeting last week, Patrick Payne, Chief Executive Officer of Bestseller Bookstore and Founder/Executive Director of the Island Games, said that the ISA was yet another attempt to recognize and to highlight the positive contributions of Caribbean Americans to the cultural mosaic of these United States.
He said that no one should want to forget the brilliant performances of Asafa and Sherone on and off the track in 2006.
Mr. Payne informed that the ISA would be used to officially launch the second staging of the Island Games on Sunday, June 10, at the Mitchell Field Athletic Complex, Uniondale.
The ISA banquet is being sponsored in part by Jamstar Enterprises, Air Jamaica Limited and the New York Carib News. Part proceeds will benefit a number of ongoing projects and programs including scholarships at the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education in Jamaica.
