Seventeen national associations have submitted nominations for the 2006 National Sports Awards and according to Director of Sports Neil Kumar, selecting the winners for the various awards might be a difficult task for the panel of judges.

Speaking to Stabroek Sport by telephone yesterday, Kumar said the panel of judges will have their work cut out in coming up with the senior and junior sportsmen and sportswomen for 2006 as well as the sports team, since there were several outstanding performers.

While he did not name all the nominees for these awards, he said track athlete Cleveland Forde and West Indies vice captain Ramnaresh Sarwan were nominated by more than one association, while world number 28 ranked squash player Nicolette Fernandes is a clear favourite to cart off the sportswoman award.

The Director of Sports said cricketer Gajanand Singh and Alex Arjune got several nominations for the junior sportsman award, while track and road athlete Alika Morgan, table tennis player Trence Lowe and squash player Keisha Jeffrey all received favourable nominations.

He however urged that the panel of judges on January 26 should not look at the number of nominations an individual, team or association receives, but rather judge them on their performance, their achievements and their contribution to the country’s development as a whole.

He said the Guyana Squash Association, the Guyana Cricket Board and the Guyana Football Federation all fielded teams that did outstandingly well in 2006. “So it’s going to be difficult for the panel of judges to make a decision.”

He said the selection of the sports personality and coach for 2006 is wide open.

National awards will be presented to senior and junior sportsmen and sportswomen, male and female sports personality, sports coach, sports association, most improved sports association, sports team, sports journalist (print and electronic), and sports photographer.

The 2005 awards were won by squash player Nicolette Fernandes (sportswoman) rifle shooter Ransford Goodluck (sportsman), cricketer Leon Johnson (junior sportsman), table tennis player Michelle John (junior sportswoman), Guyana Amateur Swimming Association’s General Sec-retary Dr. Karen Pilgrim (female sports personality), Guyana Volleyball Feder-ation’s president Lennie Shuffler (male sports personality) table tennis coach Linden Johnson (sports coach), Guyana Table Tennis Association and Guyana Rugby Football Union (joint sports association), Guyana Hockey Board (most improved association), Guyana Rugby Football Union’s under-18 team (sports team), Kaieteur News’ Claude David, sports journalist – print, NCN’s Reuben Stoby, sports journalist – electronic, and Stabroek News’ Lawrence Fanfair – photographer.

Fernandes won the sportswoman award on three previous occasions as well as the junior sportswoman award on two occasions. She was runner-up sportswoman once.

Fernandes seems to be the only female in with a chance of winning the sportswoman award, while track athlete Cleveland Forde who won a gold and a silver medal at the South American games and professional boxer Gary St. Clair who won two world titles last year are prime candidates for the sportsman award.

The Stanford Twenty/20 cricket team as well as the national football team are favourites for the sports team award, while Albert Smith (cricket), Carl Ince (squash) and Carl Franklyn (boxing) are heading for a photo finish for the coach of the year award. Cycle coach Hassan Mohamed also stands a chance.