Wesmen star wins Dale Iwanoczko award

University of Winnipeg Wesmen fifth-year power Alan Ahow won the Dale Iwanoczko award for the “individual who best exhibits outstanding achievement in volleyball, academics, and community involvement.”

Ahow enjoyed a lot of success in volleyball as he was instrumental in earning CIS silver last year and winning the national championships during the 2006-2007 campaign.

Academically, Ahow has a 4.01 GPA in the combined Arts and Education program at the University of Winnipeg and has earned Academic All-Canadian in each of his first four years there.

BBC hires first female director of sport

Head of sport production Barbara Slater is taking over as director of sport with the BBC. Slater’s new position is ground breaking as no female has ever held that title.

She replaces Roger Mosey who is going on to become BBC director of London 2012 and is overseeing the preparations coverage of the Olympics.

Slater, a gymnast in the 1976 Olympics, has covered some of the biggest events for the BBC including Wimbledon and the Olympics.

No longer just a game

In a strange ruling, Cricket batsman Sachin Tendulkar was forced to withdraw from an exhibition match because of the affiliation of one of the match’s participants, New Zealander Harnish Marshall, to the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

According to SI.com, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) backs the Indian Premier League and does not allow its players to play against athletes involved with the ICL.

Tendulkar was supposed to be a major draw card for the exhibition match but the BCCI’s intervention has disallowed him and teammate Dinesh Karthik from participating.

Remember when playing a sport was just for fun? Those were nice times.

Not pandering to their “base”

Don Porter, president of the International Softball Association, announced on Friday that he would not be joining forces with the International Baseball Federation to turn both sports into Olympic events at the 2016 Summer Games.

In what might be taken as a subtle insult to baseball, Porter’s statement said, “We have offered the IOC a doping-free, universal team sport that reflects the values of Olympism all over the world.”

He later added, “This is no disrespect in any way to baseball. Baseball’s a great sport.”

Harvey Schiller, president of the IBF, expressed disappointment at Porter’s decision, but promised to continue fighting for baseball’s re-entry into the Olympics.

Oh, she’s so young

Oh Su-hyun made history on Thursday as the youngest golfer ever to play at the Women’s Australian Open. She’s just 12 years old.

The South Korea-born Oh won the qualifying round at the Kingswood Golf Club three days earlier. By the end of the day, she had achieved a score of 6 over 79.

Oh became the Victoria State junior champ earlier this year and has a handicap of 2. By comparison, her father, Oh Seok-gu, has a handicap of 12.

Oh told reporters that she has yet to decide whether or not she wants to become professional. At the moment, she is too busy trying to balance golf with her studies.

Published in Volume 63, Number 22 of The Uniter (March 5, 2009)