Country’s top coaches battle for Soya award

Who will emerge top among the coaches in the Safaricom Sports Personality of the Year Awards (Soya) finals this year?

Will rugby’s Benjamin Ayimba pip track and field’s Peter Mathu to the Coach of the Year title during the gala on Friday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre?

Or could the odds be in favour of Gor Mahia coach Gideon Ochieng, Premier League champion Sofapaka’s Robert Matano or volleyball manager David Lung’aho?

The five have been nominated for the Coach of the Year award. Ayimba’s national sevens rugby team posted one of the best results on the International Rugby Board circuit and in the World Cup, but so did track and field athletes guided by Mathu.

The ceremony, in its seventh year, has its judges sweating out as they sieve through the nominations after a season in which Kenya’s performance at both continental and international level has been above par.

Safaricom has sponsored the awards ceremony with a Sh7 million windfall while the National Bank of Kenya has contributed Sh1 million towards the kitty.

Other sponsors are Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei Technologies.

The Most Promising Men’s category has seen bigwigs George Odhiambo (football), Stephen Wokila (hockey), Nicholas Kipruto (volleyball), Gideon Mageka and Hilary Kipsang Yego (both track and field) shortlisted.

Soya patron, Paul Tergat, said youths are the future of any country’s domination in sports.

He cited the example of Samuel Wanjiru who was honoured as Soya’s Most Promising Man in 2007 and who has moved on to conquer the world in marathons, winning both the Olympic and World Marathon Majors titles.

He won the top Soya award for last year.

“It is important that the best athletes are rewarded. Looking at the performances Kenya posted last season, the judges have their work cut out and it will be bruising battle among athletes to see that the best is rewarded. The others should never give up,” Tergat, a former world marathon record holder, said.