Two world champions in boxing and billiards lead the list of major awardees to be feted in the San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Awards Night three weeks from now at the grand ballroom of the Manila Hotel.

Pool icons Rubilen Amit and Carlo Biado, along with boxing champions Melvin Jerusalem and Pedro Taduran, are the recipients of major awards from the country’s oldest media organization which honors the best of 2024 during its traditional awards presentation on 27 January.

Amit finally won the WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Championship last year, which Biado followed up by copping the WPA Predator World 10-Ball Championship, while Jerusalem reigned as World Boxing Confederation mini-flyweight king, and Taduran regained the International Boxing Federation minimumweight crown.

Together with them, six others will be given major awards during the star-studded affair co-presented by ArenaPlus, Cignal and Media Quest.

The six include Daniel Quizon (chess), Rianne Malixi (golf), Tachiana Mangin (taekwondo), John Alvin Guce (horse racing), Batang Manda (horse racing) and Benhur Abalos (horse racing).

Gymnast Carlos Yulo, who achieved an unprecedented double gold medal for the Philippines in the Paris Olympics, shines brightest among all stars as the recipient of the 2024 Athlete of the Year, which serves as highlight of the biggest PSA Awards Night ever made possible by major sponsors Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, PLDT/Smart, Senator Bong Go and Januarius Holdings, with backing from the Philippine Basketball Association, Premier Volleyball League, 1-Pacman Partylist, AcroCity, Rain or Shine and Akari.

Incidentally, both Amit and Biado were one-time recipients of the Athlete of the Year honor in 2009 and 2016, respectively.

Quizon made his mark in chess last year by becoming the country’s 17th Grandmaster during the 45th World Chess Olympiad in Hungary, while Malixi struck in the Women’s Australian Master of the Amateurs, and then achieved back-to-back triumphs in the US Girls’ Junior and the US Women’s Amateur, respectively, to soar at a high No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.