Ramil Guliyev voted ‘Athlete of the Year’ in Milliyet Awards

ISTANBUL

The 65th Gillette Milliyet Athletes of the Year Awards were handed out at a ceremony on March 27, with sprinter Ramil Guliyev receiving the “Athlete of the Year” award for the second consecutive year.

Guliyev, who claimed the gold medal at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin by breaking the championship record, received his award from Sports Minister Mehmet Kasapoğlu.

“For the last 17 years, we have been working to make Turkey a sporting country,” Kasapoğlu said at the ceremony.

“Your support and the contributions of all our partners are essential for our efforts to carry Turkish sports to a much better spot. Because acting in a spirit of unity, being shoulder to shoulder is indisputably important for this progress process to succeed,” he added.

Kasapoğlu also noted that the votes cast for the event will help give sporting equipment to 35,000 children in the country’s southeast as part of a social responsibility project.

Around 13 million votes were cast for the 42 nominees competing in seven categories in the awards, which has been organized since 1954 and was sponsored by Gilette for the fourth time.

The Erdoğan Demirören Award, given for the first time this year, was given to Turkish Airlines (THY) and was accepted by THY board chair İlker Aycı.

“A big responsibility to develop sports falls on the shoulders of the sponsors,” Demirören Holding chairman Yıldırım Demirören said while giving the award.

“This special award is being given to THY, which makes one of the biggest contributions to the development of sports.”

VakıfBank women’s volleyball team, which claimed titles last season in the FIVB Clubs World Championships, CEV Champions League and the Turkish league, was voted the “Team of the Year.”

Cengiz Ünder of AS Roma was the “Footballer of the Year,” Fenerbahçe Beko coach Zeljko Obradovic was the “Coach of the Year” and European and world taekwondo champion İram Yaman was “Woman Athlete of the Year.”