KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — The 2019 National Sports Awards ceremony will be jointly held with the 2020 edition next year due to the current Covid-19 situation, said National Sports Council (NSC) director general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail.

This was decided at the NSC Board of Management meeting held online, chaired by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican and also attended by almost all the board members, yesterday.

The awards ceremony is usually held in March or April. 

"The decision also took into account the situation throughout 2020, whereby no big tournaments were held for almost the whole year. As such, the board decided to jointly hold the 2019 and 2020 awards ceremonies next year,” he told Bernama today.

In 2018, tenpin bowling ace Muhammad Rafiq Ismail and rhythmic gymnast Amy Kwan Dict Weng were named National Sportsman and Sportswoman respectively while Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi and Siti Noor Iasah Mohd Ariffin were declared National Paralympic Sportsman and Sportswoman respectively. — Bernama