March 6, 2016 By Sahr Morris Jnr.
Sierra Leonean sports journalists are backing veteran sports journalist and popular BBC fanzone contributor, Zuhair Kudsy, for this year’s Presidential Award.
The Presidential Award is a yearly activity hosted on Independence Day in which the country’s sitting president decorates hardworking and deserving people for their contribution towards the development of the country.
According to Sports Editor of the Exclusive Newspaper, Musa Sesay, Kudsy’s service to sports development, especially football and lawn tennis, must not unrecognised.
“He has been a mentor to so many young sports journalist including myself. We cannot pay him back and his outstanding contribution towards sports cannot be overemphasized; he is the type of people that should be recognised by the government,” Sesay said.
Another senior sports reporter, who also doubles as Editor of Sports World Newspaper, Mohamed Konneh, re-echoed Sesay’s sentiment about the experienced and veteran sports journalist.
He said: “Kudsy inspired some of us to come into sports journalism and he was one of the few who contributed and helped expose Sierra Leonean footballers and the country’s football in the international stage. For me, it is high time the country pay him back with such a respectable honour by President Koroma.”
Kudsy has spent over 29 years in sports journalism/analysis and has worked with prominent broadcasters like Ivan Benjamin, the late Edwards Akar, Abu Bockarie and Arun Rashid Deen. He was a member of the Sierra Leone Football Association Organising Committee which helped the national team, Leone Stars, qualify for the first African Cup of Nations in 1994.
The sports journalist-cum-philanthropist had also served as vice president of the Sports Writers Association of Sierra Leone.
If recognized, Kudsy will join the likes of Mohamed Kallon, former Real Republicans legend, Brima Mazola, who have received such sporting recognition from President Ernest Bai Koroma.