Christian and Fletcher cop OECS awards

CASTRIES, St Lucia, Jan 19, CMC - Sprinters Brendon Christian and Sherry Fletcher have emerged winners of the top sports awards for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) for 2007.

Antiguan Christian, the 200-metre champion at the Pan American Games in Brazil, was undisputed winner of the Sportsman of the Year award, while Grenada's Fletcher fought off a couple of stiff challenges en route to being polled as the No.1 performer from the sub-region in women's competition.

Awards were voted on by a panel of regional sports journalists, comprising Michael Bascombe, of Grenada, St Lucian Brian McDonald, Vernon Springer of St Kitts & Nevis, Colin James of Antigua and Barbuda, and Lance Whittaker of the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

The 14-year-old IAAF World Youth 400-metre silver medallist Kirani James, and the St Vincent and the Grenadines sportsmen Pamenos Ballentyne (distance runner) and Marlon James (footballer) also surfaced in the men's poll, the OECS said in a press release on Thursday.

Apart from her solid performance at the 2007 Pan American Games where she won a bronze medal in the 200 metres, Fletcher also had excellent results for her US college Louisiana State University (LSU) this year.

She became the first from her country and only the fourth LSU woman to be crowned NCAA champion in the 100 metres when she clocked 11.20 seconds in victory in Sacramento last June.

Also featuring in the female category were Kimesha Anthony, Antigua and Barbuda’s leading lady golfer, British Virgin Islands (BVI) sprinter Tahesia Harrigan, winner of the 2006 OECS Reds Perreira Trophy, and the St Kitts and Nevis sprinter Virgil Hodge.

"Brendon Christian and Sherry Fletcher, congratulations on your outstanding performances during 2007, you have made your member States and our region very proud," OECS Sports Coordinator David Peterkin stated in the press release.