Kenyan
JF-Expert Member
- Jun 7, 2012
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Soya Awards founder, Paul Tergat (right) and former Sportsman of the Year and Sevens rugby star, Humphrey Kayange at the 2015 Awards launch in Nairobi on October 21, 2015
Drug cheats will not be honoured at this year's Sports Personality of the Year Awards (Soya) as event founder and International Olympics Committee Member, Paul Tergat, added his respected voice to calls on Government to criminalise the vice.
Tergat, a former world marathon record holder and two-time Olympics silver medallist announced Wednesday the annual black tie gala will be held in Nairobi on January 15, 2016.
The theme for this year's edition for the fete that recognises outstanding achievements in Kenyan sports – Take responsibility and stay clean- is inspired by the recent rise of doping cases in the country. It hopes to raise awareness among athletes on dangers of performance enhancing drugs use.
"It's shocking that we are witnessing doping cases nearly every day. We will not tolerate these shortcuts where some of our sportsmen or ruthless agents are trying to take added advantage in terms of using prohibited substances.
"As SOYA, we believe in fairness, hard work and dedication in all aspects. I'm sure polices are being formulated and this negative vice that is creeping in sports should be criminalized and penalised so that if you are doping, you should be able to carry your own cross as an individual and not a sport," the SOYA founder and five-time World Cross senior men champion declared.
African women 800m bronze winner, Agatha Jeruto and road racer, Josephine Jepkoech are the latest convicted Kenyan drug cheats after Athletics Kenya announced their two and four years bans from the sport testing positive for Norandrosterone.
capitalfm