Klinger, Cantoni scoop top gongs

VICTORIANS Michael Klinger and Tammy Cantoni have scooped the major gongs at the Maccabi Australia (MIA) awards, which were announced last  week.

Australian Test hopeful and South Australian captain Klinger was named Jewish Sportsman of the Year, while snooker player Cantoni was named Jewish Sportswoman of the Year.

Klinger had an outstanding 2009/10 season, winning his second consecutive State Player of the Year award and further pushing his claims for a spot in the national side with 886 runs at an average of 63.28 in the four-day format.

The Mount Scopus Memorial College graduate is currently captaining the Redbacks at the Twenty20 Champions League in South Africa, where he is
the competition’s leading run-scorer.

Cantoni won the Australian nine-ball championships last yea North of the border, New South Wales athletes were well represented in the junior awards.

Judo fighter Amy Meyer won the Junior Jewish Sportswoman of the Year award after she was the top-ranked Australian woman under-48kg last year. She also won the NSW Open for under-48kg women in 2009.

In a repeat of the Maccabi NSW Awards, tennis player David Sofaer and athletics star Steven Solomon shared the Junior Jewish Sportsman of the Year award.

Solomon won the NSW All Schools 400m sprint and 400m hurdles events, while Sofaer won gold in the under-18 singles tournament at the Maccabiah Games and held an International Tennis Federation world ranking of 63 for players under the age of 18.

Triathlon competitor Anne Besser, who retired this year, was named the Masters Jewish Sportswoman of the Year, while Victorian squash player George Oshlack won the Masters Jewish Sportsman of the Year award.

For the first time, Maccabi Australia president Harry Procel presented the Maccabi President’s award to recognise wheelchair tennis player Adam Kellerman. “We considered his achievement outstanding,” Procel said. “His efforts have been brilliant and we wanted to somehow recognise how well he has done.”

Kellerman is currently studying at the University of Arizona in the US on a wheelchair tennis scholarship.

JOSHUA LEVI