Olunga voted Outstanding athlete in 2020

Michael Olunga has shared his excitement after he was named the Outstanding Sports Personality of the Year (SOYA) in 2020. The Kenyan forward has also appreciated his teammates and fans for the support." "(I am) Happy to have been named outstanding Sports Personality of the Year in 2020. I thank God for all His blessings. Thanking my family, teammates, and everyone who in one way or the other helped me achieve this feat," he wrote on Twitter. The Qatar-based footballer Olunga was feted in absentia during the annual Sports Personality of the Year awards held in Naivasha on Saturday as he is away in Doha on duty. His younger sibling Victor  collected the award. Despite a Covid-19 ravaged sports season, Olunga outscored all the players in Japan's top-flight league in 2020, finding the back of the net a record 27 times. The feat earned him a big-money move, estimated at Sh1 billion, to top Qatari club Al Duhail SC. Olunga was however unavailable for national team duty in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches at home and away to Comoros owing to the challenges in travel from Japan to Kenya associated with the novel virus. But he will be hoping to lead Kenya in the remaining matches of the competition against Egypt at home and Togo away in March, plus the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers where Kenya has been pooled alongside Rwanda, Uganda, and Mali.