The County Government of Mombasa has partnered with Safaricom Sports personalities Of the Year Awards (SOYA) Initiative to host the 2018 edition that will be marking the 15th SOYA awards ceremony scheduled for January 2019.
It will be the first time the Awards will be held out of Nairobi since inception.
"This will be the first time the prestigious event which pays tribute to sports personalities who have exhibited determination, excellence, and triumph in various disciplines will be held outside Nairobi," said Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho who attended the signing of the MoU on Tuesday.
Also present was SOYA awards founder, former world marathon record holder, Paul Tergat who asked all stakeholders to support the event and further assured that the event would be held in other counties in future.
“I call upon everyone to come and support this event because it has grown leaps and bounds over the years since it started. We will continue engaging other counties because we want to host it also in other parts of the country as a way of promoting sports tourism,’’ said Tergat.
Joho said the event would boost sports tourism in Mombasa besides nurturing young sports talent in Mombasa and the larger Coast region.
"The partnership with Paul Tergat Foundation initiative is also looking at motivating, nurture and develop the upcoming sportspersons in a bid to deviate them from social vices and venture into various novel sports activities not only for leisure but as a career as well," said the governor.
Click here to watch the signing of the MoU.