After his brilliant display during the 2022 season, World Under-20 record holder, Letsile Tebogo received two nominations for the upcoming African Union Sports Council Regional Annual Sport Awards (RASA). The sprinter has been nominated for Sportsperson of the Year and Sportsman of the Year awards. Tebogo will battle it out for the Sportsman of the Year award against Peter Shalulile (football, Namibia) and Pieter Coetzee (swimming, South Africa).

He will also compete against Rady Adosinda Gramane (boxing, Mozambique) and Andile Dlamini (football, South Africa). Other local sports stars have also been nominated for some categories. Woman FIDE Master, Naledi Marape has been nominated for the Sportswoman of the Year award. Athletics coach, Justice Dipeba is also in contention for the Coach of the Year award. The men’s 4x400m relay team has been nominated for Team of the Year award. Marape is up against Lara Van Niekerk (swimming, South Africa and Halalia Johannes (athletics, Namibia). Dipeba faces competition from Cheryl Tafadzwa Hove of Special Olympics, Zimbabwe and Lucas Sinoia of boxing, Mozambique. PASSOBO 400m specialist, Edwin ‘Tiger’ Masuge received a nod for Sportsman of the Year with disability award. Other nominees for the same category are Jonathan Ntuntu (athletics, South Africa) and Ananias Shikongo (athletics, Namibia). Launching the awards, AUSC Region 5 chief executive officer, Stanley Mutoya said the voting process for the top three nominees per category commenced on May 19 and ended on May 31. He said the process was conducted under the watchful eye of Grant Thornton Botswana.

“Eligibility for the RASA is based on member countries hosting their own national awards. Winners from the national awards automatically qualify to be in the long list of nominees for the RASA, from which the top three are selected and the winner is announced during a gala night. Eight of the Region 5 countries (with exception of Angola and Lesotho) entered nominees for the 2023 RASA edition,” Mutoya said. The awards are made up of 12 categories to recognise athletes, coaches, member countries, regional confederations, journalists and teams that have produced outstanding performances in sport at regional and international level. Mutoya said the winners of the categories were selected through a voting process with the Confederation

of the Year and the Country of the Year being selected through adjudication panel. He said the Confederation of the Year award will be conferred to a confederation that is in good standing in corporate governance, participate in the region’s programmes, activities and runs regular competitions in the region.

Eligibility for the

RASA is based on member countries hosting their own national awards. Winners from the national awards automatically qualify to be in the long list of nominees for the RASA, from which the top three are selected and the winner is announced during

a gala night

The nominees are: Junior Sportsman of the Year: Sihlelelwe Zwakele Matsebula (Taekwando, Eswatini), Sean Joseph (boxing, Malawi) and William Chinzewe (draught,

Zambia).

Junior Sportswoman: Hayley Hoy (swimming, Eswatini), Christine Mboma (athletics, Namibia) and Jade Phiri (swimming, Zambia).

Sportswoman of the Year with Disability: Minkie Janse van Rensburg (swimming, South Africa), Lahja Ishitile (athletics, Namibia) and Ivy Chanda (football, Zambia). The men’s 4x400m relay team will be competing against Malawi women’s football and Zambia women’s football team.