HUGE RESPONSE TO BLACK IRIS VOTING

More than 50,000 sports fans have participated in the first 24 hours of voting for the Black Iris Sports Awards, organised by the Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) to recognise sporting excellence.

Since public voting was launched at 1pm on Sunday, tens of thousands of people have made their choices known in the five categories on the JOC’s Facebook page, with many more casting their vote on the official web site, www.joc.jo.

The category shortlists were decided by the Jordanian sports media who voted for their choice of Best Sportsman, Best Sportswoman, Best Young Achiever (male), Best Young Achiever (female) and Best Paralympic Athlete of 2013. They were allowed to vote on achievements up until January 17, given extra time due to the snow problems during December.

"The response has been fantastic,” said JOC Secretary General Lana Al Jaghbeer.  "As well as recognising those who achieved during past 12 months or so, the awards are also designed to interact with the public and to raise the profiles of our sportsmen and women.”

Voting will be open for a further two weeks before it is closed ahead of an awards dinner in February. The winners will be decided from votes counted from the Facebook page as well as the official web site, which is carrying one of the categories every three days.

The awards were first presented in 2006 and have recognised the Kingdom’s great sport achievers since.