(Story & Photo by Marco Stoovelaar)
 No Awards for Neptunus and Jaarsma; Rotterdam Awards Gala snowed out
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
The 31st edition of the annual Sport Awards Rotterdam-Rijnmond, which was scheduled for Monday-evening (December 11), was cancelled earlier in the day due to the heavy snow-storm that struck the Netherlands since Sunday.
At the annual event, awards were to be handed out to the best Male and Female Athletes, as well as the Team, Coach, Talent, Volunteer and Handicapped Athlete of the Year in the Rotterdam-area.
On Monday-morning, because of the extreme weather conditions, it was decided by the organization to cancel the Sport Awards Gala.
The event was to take place again in the Queens Lounge of the former cruiseship S.S. Rotterdam.
However, to secure the safety for the nominees and visitors to reach the site, the evening was scrubbed.
The event is organized by the Municipality of Rotterdam, Rotterdam Sportsupport, Rotterdam Topsport and RTV Rijnmond.
Instead of naming the winners during the evening, they already were announced by RTV Rijnmond at 5 PM.
Coming Saturday, the local channel will air a special focusing on the winners receiving their awards.
...The Awards were to be handed out on the S.S. 'Rotterdam'...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
The baseball-team of Curaçao Neptunus was nominated again for Team of the Year, while first-year Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma was nominated for the title Coach of the Year.
This year, Neptunus captured the European Champions Cup by winning the Final of the event in Regensburg (Germany) against UnipolSai Fortitudo Bologna (Italy) with a 7-3 score.
On October 8, Neptunus won its 18th Dutch Championship-title in club-history by winning the Holland Series against L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
The Rotterdam-squad and its coach were left empty-handed this time, as was more or less expected.
The Award for Best Team of the Year went to the Feyenoord-soccer team, which won its first Dutch Championship-title (and 15th in club-history) since 1999.
Feyenoord's Head Coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst won the Award for Coach of the Year.
The Award for Male Athlete of the Year went to Feyenoord-player Karim El Ahmadi.
The third team nominated for Team of the Year was Sliedrecht Sport Women (volleyball).
The third nominated coach was Gertjan van der Linden of the Netherlands Women Wheelchair Basketball Team.
Neptunus last was chosen Team of the Year in 2015 when it also won both the European Champions Cup and the Dutch title.
Since 1991, Neptunus was named best team in Rotterdam seven times.
Other winners on Monday were Chantal Blaak (cycling, Female Athlete of the Year), Alida van Daalen (athletics, Talent of the Year), Marc Knoet (field hockey, Volunteer of the Year) and Tennis Club Alexanderstad (Handicapped Sports Award).
(December 11)
|
