Maldives Sports Award postponed indefinitely

Maldives Sports Award, organized by the Ministry of Sports, Fitness and Recreation, has been postponed indefinitely.

The Award has been delayed after most of the preparations had already been completed to hold the ceremony at the Hulhumale' Synthetic Track on Thursday, as earlier planned.

It is believed that this delay has been put in effect due to expenditure reduction efforts that President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has announced.

Yesterday, the President announced special measures to cut government expenditure, in large part due to significant challenges being faced in seeking financing to bridge this year's budget deficit.

This includes decreasing political appointments, and cancelling all large scale Independence Day celebrations this year. The President announced that additional measures will also be taken in the coming days.

Sports Ministry has not officially stated reasons for the postponement of the Award ceremony.

The set up of the stage for the event has also neared completion. The Ministry has also announced final nominations in the various sports being covered in the Awards. Arrangements have also been made to bring in sports officials from abroad.

The Sports Awards were first held in 2022, when Ahmed Mahloof was serving as Sports Minister. The government has spent on holding elaborate Sports Award ceremonies in the past two years since.

In 2022, for the first Sports Award, then government spent MVR 6.1 million. The largest expense was made on bringing in foreign sports personalities, and for their accommodation, which amounted to MVR 2.2 million.

The last Sports Award was held in March last year. Last year, the Best Athlete Award was won by Fathimath Dheema in Table Tennis, and Azneen Rashad in Bodybuilding.