Ferdinand Omanyala wins LG Sports Personality of the Month award
African 100m record holder Ferdinand Omanyala poses with the trophy after he was namedt he LG Sports Personality of the Month for September 2021.
What you need to know:
- The award is sponsored by LG East Africa and awarded by SJAK.
- The 26-year-old sprinter became the first ever Kenyan in 60 years to win the Commonwealth Games 100m title on August 3.
Commonwealth Games 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala is the LG Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) Sports Personality for August.
Omanyala, who has now won the award twice, hopes to equal and break Angela Okutoyi’s record of three awards.
The award is sponsored by LG East Africa and awarded by SJAK.
The 26-year-old sprinter became the first ever Kenyan in 60 years to win the Commonwealth Games 100m title on August 3.
Omanyala clocked 10.02 seconds to relegate defending champion Akani Simbine from South Africa to silver in 10.13 sec.
Omanyala who walked away with an LG washing machine retailing at Sh105,000 on Thursday.
“It’s such a great feeling winning the award twice within a space of 12 months. My success in Birmingham will no doubt continue to inspire and encourage many Kenyans over and above paving the way for many other local sprinters to come through,” he said.
“I feel a lot motivated to keep improving my personal best of 9.77 seconds given that I have two gold medals and an Africa record,” added Omanyala.
Omanyala beat a strong field of nominees among them rugby star Billy Odhiambo who racked up his 100th career try at the World Rugby Sevens in Los Angeles, 800m runner Mary Moraa who won gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, as well as Hellen Wawira who claimed bronze in the para-power lifting competition also in Birmingham.
Two-time 1500m Olympic and World champion Faith Kipyegon was also in the list of nominees,. Kipyegon clocked the second fastest time in history, a World Lead and a Kenyan record of 3:50.37 at the Monaco leg of the Diamond League on August 10.
Other nominees included netball player Beatrice Bucho, Commonwealth games 3,000m steeplechase champion Jackline Chepkoech, Faisal Aden of Equity basketball team and World Athletics U20 Championships 3000m steeplechase gold medallist Faith Cherotich.
“LG has been actively supporting the identification and recognition of sporting talent in Kenya through a partnership with SJAK. The purpose of this award is to recognise exceptional Kenyan sportsmen and women for their achievements across diverse disciplines each month and also to signify our commitment to contribute to the development of sport in the country,” said Maureen Kemunto, Corporate Marketing and communication manager LG East Africa.
SJAK President Chris Mbaisi said: “With the monthly award, we are seeing a growing number of upcoming and talented sports personalities among them Angella Okutoyi who won the Wimbledon Open Junior doubles category and won this award for a record three times."
"Rewarding sportsmen and women is an important step towards whipping up the enthusiasts of sports personalities across all disciplines.”
