The eleventh edition of the Sporting Merit Awards of the City of Valencia was held last April. The setting for the official ceremony was the Municipal Hemicycle.
A total of 12 sportsmen and -women, bodies and personalities associated with the world of sport were recognised for their careers and work for sport in all fields. This time round, a new category, the Amorós Award for the "City of Valencia Sporting Merit" was created. This has been awarded to the person whose work was particularly significant for the development of sport in general and of local sport in particular. As announced, on this first occasion, the award-winner was the Professor of Sociology at the University of Valencia, Manuel García Ferrando, for having become a national and international figure due to his extensive work on the sporting habits of the Spanish, which has provided huge statistical information.
The list of award-winners was headed by Kike Boned, a futsal footballer of El Pozo de Murcia, who last year was proclaimed League, Cup and Super Cup winner with his club, at the same time as champion of Europe with the Spanish national side, and was named best player in the world. In the women's category, the prize was won by Raquel Micó Sánchez, runner-up in the world Basque pelota frontenis section last October.
In terms of clubs, Power Electronics Valencia was the worthy winner of the prize for the Best Men's Club for winning the Eurocup last season, whilst Valencia Terra i Mar did the same on winning the league and Cup in 2010 and for being the athletics club with the most prizes in history.
In the Best Sportsman or -woman with Functional Diversity section, David Bravo Torres, Spanish 100 metres champion, and Vanesa García López, Spanish 200 metres Champion, both from the world of athletics, were award-winners.
In the Sporting Event section, the jury decided on 'Europilota 2010', which attracts the world's best world players to our city, especially to the final disputed in the Town Hall square.
The Media that has best supported and spread the reality of sport in the city was, according to the jury's verdict, Televisión Municipal de Valencia, TMV, with its special reporting of commonplace and popular sporting events. For its part, the programme Sense Limits of Ràdio 9 was recognised for the best article and journalistic reporting thanks to its committed support and dissemination of sports and clubs that do not enjoy very much coverage in other media.
In the section for the Sporting Body that has most decidedly backed sport in Valencia, the work of Power Electronics, the main sponsor of the city's basketball team, was recognised with an award.
The Career Award went to the former athlete Emilio Ponce, for his dedication to the practice and teaching of this sport. In 1951, Ponce was Spanish Champion and, later, as a trainer, he directed Olympic athletes and Spanish Champions such as Rafa Blanquer, among a long list of others.
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