Sportsman and Sportswoman of 2007, Phone Myint Tayzar and Soe Soe Myar pose with their awards.

VETERAN sports star Phone Myint Tayzar picked up another award last week as he was named Sportsman of the Year 2007. Soe Soe Myar was honoured as Sportswoman of the Year at the ceremony held at Yangon’s Chatrium Hotel on May 31.

Phone Myint Tayzar, a rower who has been a national selection for a dozen years and who has garnered gold medals in every SEA Games since 1997, said he had worked particularly hard to win the prize. “I do my best so as to inspire the younger generation of athletes,” he said.

Soe Soe Myar told The Myanmar Times: “This is one of the prizes that athletes dream of winning. I’m really proud to be selected from among all the gold medallists in the country. I think I was chosen as I got a good result in Korea Open. It’s the highest level for taekwondo, and I came third in the competition,” she said.

The Myanmar Olympic Committee and Myanmar Sports Writers Federation selected the winners from a list of nominees that included Maung Kyu (shooting), Aung Khine Win (bodybuilding), Aung Sithu (wushu, martial art) and Zaw Naing Win (judo) for men and Than Than Saw (shooting), Aye Aye Aung II (judo) and Naw Ah Le La Shee (rowing) for women.

The winners received K1 million each for their success from the Myanmar Olympic Committee and Myanmar Sports Writers Federation, while special awards of K40,000 each – half from the committee and half from the federation – were given to Maung Kyu, Aung Sithu and Naw Ah Le La Shee.

The Myanmar Sports Writers Federation requested nine sports federations to propose the best athletes and coaches of 2007, said Dr Tin Tun Oo, the president of the federation, at the award ceremony. The nine federations seen as the most successful in the latest SEA Games are: taekwondo, billiards and snooker, wushu, rowing, football, track and field, shooting, bodybuilding and judo.

“We chose these nominees depending not only on the number of medals they’d won, but also on how hard they tried to get the medals. Executive members of the sports writers’ federation selected the nominees carefully and submitted the names to the Myanmar Olympic Committee. The committee chose the best ones from the nomination list,” said Dr Tin Tun Oo.

Phone Myint Tayzar, 30, won two gold medals, one each in men’s single and four-paddled kayak, and a bronze in men’s double kayak in the last SEA Games, while 25-year-old Soe Soe Myar brought home Myanmar’s first ever gold in taekwondo by defeating her Thai opponent, representing the host country..

The president of the Myanmar Sports Writers Federation said that the awards for best sportsman and sportswomen were given every year, but other awards such as best coach, team leader or team are given out depending on the level of achievement.

“We didn’t find any coach, team leader or that who met our criteria in the year 2007. But this is the first time we’ve given special awards to athletes together with the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards,” he said.

In 2006, the Sportsman of the Year award went to Aung Sann Oo, the 2006 billiard champion of Asia, and the award for Sportswoman of the Year went to Yar Thet Pan, the silver medallist in weightlifting at Doha Asian Games. Best coach award went to Kyaw Zin Moe, the head coach of Myanmar national sepak takraw team.