Sterling, Stewart win UWI sports awards

NETBALLER Shamera Sterling and former West Indies Under-19 cricket captain Emmanuel Stewart are the 2020 University of the West Indies (UWI) Vice-Chancellor’s Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year winners, respectively.

The awards were shown on the UWI TV Facebook page, on Wednesday night.

Sterling was given the nod ahead of footballer Esther Ward from the UWI Open Campus.

Sterling of UWI Mona is a goal defence and goalkeeper. She represented the Jamaica senior team at the 2019 Netball World Cup in London.

Sterling, 25, has played in the Suncorp Super Netball League in Australia and is the UWI Mona netball captain.

“I am very honoured to receive this award…I am extremely grateful because on a whole netball does not get the recognition like football and track and field,” she said.

Sterling urged girls to get involved in netball. “I am just here to encourage young women to get engaged in the sport and just perform at the best of their ability.”

Stewart, who is Grenadian, is a student at the UWI Cave Hill Campus. The TT cricket pair of Amir Jangoo and Yannick Ottley of the St Augustine Campus were among the nominees for the sportsman of the year award.

The other sportsman of the year nominees were basketballer Dillon Johnson (Open Campus), cricketer Nicholas Kirton (Cave Hill Campus), footballer Ryi Maryat (Cave Hill Campus) and cricketer Romaine Morris (Mona Campus).

Stewart, 21, captained the West Indies team at the 2018 International Cricket Council Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand.

Over the past year, he has represented the Windward Islands Volcanoes in multiple competitions including the Regional Super50 tournament.

Stewart said, “I am honoured to receive this award…cricket is very important to me. I have been putting in the hard work on and off the field, both on my game and on my academics.”

He added, “I will always remember this as being a very special day in my career.”

Among the people who spoke during the hour-ong presentation were UWI Vice-Chancellor Prof Sir Hilary Beckles, director of Alumni Relations at UWI Celia Davidson-Francis, high-performance sports expert Amanda Reifer and former West Indies cricketers Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh.