Akani Simbine excited about the inaugural ASA Awards

The long wait for the local athletes to get recognition from their national federation is almost over, and excitement is in the air.

SA 100m champion Akani Simbine tells SABC Sport he is excited about the upcoming awards and hopes to be among the big winners on the night.

Simbine won silver medals in the 100m finals at the African Championships in Mauritius and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. He also finished fifth in the world championships 100m final in the USA, clocking 10.01, and could be the biggest winner at the awards.

"Finally, we have been waiting. It's great that they are honouring the athletes and seeing the work of the athletes because without the athletes there's no athletics. Now that we have the Athletics awards, I'm looking forward to them. Hopefully I make the shortlist or I make the list to get an award," he said.

The 2023 season will officially start in March with a couple of meetings to help the athletes qualify for the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, later this year. The Puk MacArthur Stadium in Potchefstroom is fast becoming the home of athletics in South Africa and will host the Grand Prix series and the SA Senior Track and Field Championships in March and April. Potchefstroom is Simbine’s favourite track meeting, and he confirmed to the national broadcaster, he would race in the North West.

"I think they are trying to make Potch the home of athletics, the way Oregon is the home of athletics in America. Potch should be in my opinion the home of athletics in South Africa. We had ‘fill up Potch’ in 2017 and it was amazing.

We had packed stadiums for five days. It just shows that if we build enough interest, people will come out. People flew from Cape Town and Durban just to watch us run, that just shows the power that we have in athletics. So, I'm really keen to go to Potch," he concluded.

By: Charles Baloyi