The three will be joined by 15 other major awardees during the two-hour program co-presented by CIGNAL/Hyper HD, including members of the Philippine team to the Rio De Janeiro Games, who met the Olympic qualifying standard to earn berths in the quadrennial meet.
Among the Olympians to be feted are tracksters Eric Shaun Cray, Marestella Torres-Sunang, Mary Joy Tabal, boxers Charly Suarez and Rogen Ladon, taekwondo jin Kirstie Elaine Alora, table netter Ian Lariba, and weightlifter Nestor Colonia.
Olympic team member Miguel Tabuena meanwhile, will be honored with the title Mr. Golf while silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz is going to be bestowed with the coveted Athlete of the Year award by the country’s oldest media organization during the yearly affair which has Smart, Phoenix Petroleum, Gold Toe, Foton, ICTSI, GlobalPort, Mighty Sports, and Rain or Shine as major sponsors.
Also part of the major awardees are the Philippine Poomsae team that won gold medals in the 10th World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Lima Peru, world boxing champion Johnriel Casimero, golfer Yuka Saso, and ONE championship lightweight title holder Eduard Folayang.
Motorbike champ Marvin Mangulabnan, Jockey of the Year Mark Alvarez, and Horse of the Year Low Profile complete the list of major awardees in the gala night also backed by the PBA, SM Prime Holdings Inc., Philippine Sports Commission, ACCEL, MVP Sports Foundation, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Meralco, NLEX, and Federal Land.
Frayna made history last year when she became the country’s first woman Grandmaster during the 42nd World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Medina meanwhile, bagged the country’s only second medal in Paralympic history when she won the bronze in the women’s singles class 8 (table tennis) during the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio De Janeiro. It was the first medal for the country since powerlifter Adeline Dumapong in the 2000 edition of the meet in Sydney.
And then there was the Beermen, who made a record comeback from 0-3 down in their title series against the Alaska Aces to retain their PBA Philippine Cup title.
