Dear colleagues, members of the high table, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
I am very honoured to welcome you all to this auspicious occasion.
The 4th National Sports Journalists Association award is here to honor deserving athletes, sports men and administrators as it remains one of the biggest sports galas or events in the calendar of Gambian sports.
Since the inception of this award in 2007 members have been working very hard to improve and set high standards on the organisation and staging of the event.
We want to keep this momentum going as part of our quota in attaining sports excellence.
Although we have passed through so many hurdles and loopholes to bring to you what it is today the 4th National Award, we want to re-affirm our commitment to the nation, our role as an organ mandated to stage awards of this nature as it is done all over the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, July 2nd was World Sports Journalists Day, I want to seize this opportunity to pay tribute to all sports journalists in the country and also to our bigger body AIPS- the |International Sports Press Association.
As we celebrate these achievements today, I want us to reflect on the future of sports journalism in the country. We need highly trained and experienced journalists who can take up the challenge to promote Gambian sports.
SJAG alone does not have the capacity to run training courses for our members. We need collaboration and support from partners to achieve this goal.
The sports gala could not have been possible without the support of our partners such as Africell, Trust Bank, FiBank, Bergen Gambia Community in Norway, Banjul Breweries Limited, Gambia Tourism Board as well as other partners.
I thank our media partners in The Point Newspaper, Observer, Standard, Unique FM, West Coast Radio among others for their support.
