Pooran among favourites to win T&T’s Sportsman of the Year award

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

West Indies’ star batsman Nicholas Pooran is one of the favourites to take home the 2024 Sportsman of the Year award at next week’s First Citizens Sports Awards.

Pooran, along with sprinter Jereem Richards, swimmer Dylan Carter, cyclist Nicholas Paul and Paralympic discus thrower Akeem Stewart have all been nominated for the prestigious award, with the ceremony scheduled for January 11, here at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad.

The 29-year-old hard hitting left-hander had a sensational year, where he broke the record for most T20 runs in a calendar year.

Pooran finished with 2331 runs in 74 innings at an average of 40.89 and an impressive strike rate of 157.3.

He also made the most sixes in a calendar year with 170 in 74 innings, breaking Chris Gayle’s 2015 record of 135 sixes.

Richards, who was named the TT Olympic Committee’s (TTOC) Sportsman of the Year last Sunday, was nominated after a superb performance at the Paris Olympics where he clocked 43.78 seconds in the men’s 400m final, missing out on bronze by four hundredths of a second and setting a new national record.

Meanwhile, sprinter Leah Bertrand, swimmer Zuri Ferguson and cyclist Makaira Wallace are among the nominees for the coveted Sportswoman of the Year award.