The Philippine Sportswriters Association will celebrate 120 years of Philippine Sports when the group of Filipino sports journalists holds its annual awards night on Jan. 10 at the Holiday Inn Manila.
Sports greats of long ago era will be honored together with future Olympians during the blue-ribbon affair where the prestigious Athlete of the Decade award will be given out for the first time in PSA history.
From Pancho Villa, the famed prize fighter of the 1920s who put Asia on the world boxing map, to young Dorothy Joy Delasin, who is set to conquer the Ladies Professional Golfers Association Tour in the year 2020, the list of honorees represents the cream of the crop in RP sports through the years.
President Duterte, a known sports fan and patron, has been invited to be the guest of honor and speaker.
Efren 'Bata' Reyes gets the Athlete of the Year award in recognition of his triumph in the world billiards championship in Wales and his admirable stint in the 20th Southeast Asian Games in Brunei.
A highlight of the event is the choice of 11 men and women, led by Villa and four-time bowling World Cup champion Paeng Nepomuceno, as Athletes of the Millennium. The rest are: Gabriel 'Flash' Elorde, trackster Lydia de Vega, tennis champ Felicisimo Ampon, bowling queen Olivia 'Bong' Coo, Olympic boxers Anthony Villanueva and Mansueto Velasco, Jr., basketball's Carlos Loyzaga, swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso and Asia's first chess grandmaster Eugene Torre.
"This is the PSA's humble way of paying tribute to the men and women who have contributed the most to our sports heritage through their exploits and world-class talent," said PSA president Ding Marcelo of the Manila Bulletin.
