POSTED: Tuesday January 4th 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ONE WEEK TO GO...JESSICA ENNIS, A.P.McCOY AND EUROPEAN RYDER CUP TEAM HOPING FOR NOMINATION FOR LAUREUS WORLD SPORTS AWARDS
• Nominees for Laureus World Sports Awards announced on January 11 • Laureus World Sports Awards to be held in Abu Dhabi, February 5-7
LONDON, January 4, 2011 - The triumphant European Ryder Cup Team, which featured seven British and Irish golfers and was captained by Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, have just one week to wait to discover if they have been nominated for the 2011 Laureus World Sports Awards.
British heptathlon star Jessica Ennis and top jump jockey A.P.McCoy are also strong contenders to be nominated for Laureus Awards.
The Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during 2010, are the premier honours on the international sporting calendar. The names of six Nominees in each of seven categories will be announced on January 11.
The eventual winners will then be chosen from that list of Nominees by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury, made up of 46 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, and will be unveiled during a televised Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Monday, February 7.
The European Ryder Cup Team won one of the most dramatic contests against the United States at Celtic Manor, South Wales, in October. The three-day match was weather affected, but that only seemed to add to the drama as Europe won by 14½-13½. The British and Irish golfers in the team were Luke Donald, Ross Fisher, Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy and world No 1 Lee Westwood. Poulter was Europe's leading scorer with three points from a possible four. Montgomerie’s side will be strong contenders for Nomination as Laureus World Team of the Year.
In his own right, Graeme McDowell is a contender for Laureus World Sportsman of the Year after he became the first UK golfer to win the US Open since Tony Jacklin 40 years earlier. McDowell’s victory at Pebble Beach in June followed his European Tour victory in the Celtic Manor Welsh Open. He followed this up dramatically in October when he became the hero of European golf for winning the decisive match in the Ryder Cup, beating Hunter Mahan in the last of the singles. McDowell, from Northern Ireland, added his third tournament victory in October at the Andalucian Masters which moved him into the world top ten for the first time.
Also in contention in this category could be Mo Farah, the Somali-born, British athlete who became the first man in 20 years to win the 5,000 and 10,000 metres European Championship double in Barcelona, and A.P.McCoy, one of the finest riders ever to take to the saddle, who won his 15th UK riders’ championship in 2009/10 and his first Grand National in 15 attempts on Don’t Push It. He also won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.
Britain’s Olympic hopeful Jessica Ennis will be waiting to see if she has been nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year after she added the European Championship heptathlon title in August to her World Championship gold of 2009. She also won the pentathlon gold at the World Indoor Championship in Doha and was runner-up to Blanka Vlasic in the vote to be 2010 European Athlete of the Year.
There are two potential British Nominees for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award, the England Twenty20 Cricket Team, who gave England its first global trophy in the 35-year history of limited-overs cricket after beating Australia in the final in Barbados in May, and England fast bowler Steve Finn, who was named International Cricket Council Emerging Player of the Year.
Gymnast Imogen Cairns completed a remarkable recovery after 15 months of injury following the Beijing Olympics, when she had two serious ankle operations which put her future in doubt. She was unable to walk for months, however she won two gold medals in the Delhi Commonwealth Games in floor contest and vault and silver in the team competition, which makes her a candidate for Nomination for the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
There is a two-part voting process to find the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards. Firstly, a Selection Panel of the world’s leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters from over 150 countries votes to create a shortlist of six Nominations in various categories including Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, Laureus World Team of the Year, Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year and Laureus World Comeback of the Year. Then the members of the Laureus World Sports Academy vote by secret ballot to select the Award winners.
The Laureus Academy Members also vote for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability and the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year, the Nominations for which are made by specialist panels.
The 2011 Laureus World Sports Awards is returning to Abu Dhabi thanks to the support of Aabar Investments PJS, who will once again be Host Partner for the event. His Excellency Khadem Al Qubaisi, Chairman of Aabar, said: "The Laureus World Sports Awards is a unique event. It was magnificent, a great success for Abu Dhabi when it was held here last March.”
Last year double Oscar-winning Hollywood star Kevin Spacey hosted a glittering Awards Ceremony attended by leading sportsmen and women from around the world. Also in the audience at a packed auditorium at the Emirates Palace were Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, British film stars Hugh Grant and Clive Owen and American actors Kyle MacLachlan and Michelle Rodriguez.
Among the names of the winners of the 2010 Laureus World Sports Awards announced in Abu Dhabi last March were Usain Bolt, Serena Williams, Jenson Button, Kim Clijsters, Natalie du Toit and Stephanie Gilmore.
Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, offers a fascinating combination of the old and the new; a blend of Arabic hospitality and mystique where a mixture of culture and tradition come together against a backdrop of the most modern world-class infrastructure. Abu Dhabi is developing a reputation as a great sporting venue as host city for the FIFA Club World Cup, the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, all highlights of the sporting calendar in the city.
Proceeds from the Laureus World Sports Awards directly benefit and underpin the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation which supports almost 80 community sports projects around the world which have helped to improve the lives of more than one million young people.
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Keywords · Laureus World Sports Academy · Spain · Abu Dhabi · Jessica Ennis · AP McCoy · Ryder Cup
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