By Adama Makasuba

The Sports Journalists Association of Gambia, SJAG, will hold their 10^th National Sports Awards and Gala at Cocoa Ocean Hotel on Saturday night.

The annual awards night is meant to celebrate and award past and present sports personalities who have excelled in their respective sporting disciplines and have done so much for the country.

This year’s event is expected to be graced by Senegal’s minister of Sports, Matarr Ba, Senegal’s national team head coach, Aliou Sise and former Senegalese international player Henry Camara, and, Guinea Bissau’s Sports minister.

The association has over the past nine editions awarded many individuals, including three-time CAF Africa best referee award winner Bakary Papa Gassama and other sports legends and personalities in the country.

On Friday the sports journalists of The Gambia and Senegal played a friendly football match aimed at strengthening the bilateral relationship between the sports associations of the two countries.

Alieu Ceesay, secretary general of SJAG said: “It is actually meant to award, celebrate and honour our past and present sports personalities who have done so much for this country in their different sporting disciplines.”

He added: “So we decided as a professional body…it is good that we are seeing them, celebrating and honouring them to inspire the younger generation to look up to them and take up sports as a profession. We are looking forward to a very successful event.”

SJAG is the umbrella body overseeing all practicing sports journalists in The Gambia, as an affiliate to The Gambia Press Union (GPU) and the International Sports Press Association (AIPS).