Laureus World Sports Awards 2019: Yuwa India wins Sport for Good Honour, Djokovic, Biles bag top honours
World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic crowned a winning return to the courts after surgery with the Laureus sportsman of the year award on Monday, while American gymnast Simone Biles won the sportswoman of the year prize.
World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic crowned a winning return to the courts after surgery with the Laureus sportsman of the year award on Monday, while American gymnast Simone Biles won the sportswoman of the year prize.
Serbian Djokovic, who 12 months ago had elbow surgery, won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2018, before lifting this year's Australian Open crown, to add to his tally of Grand Slam singles titles and reclaim top spot in the rankings.
With his record seventh crown at Melbourne Park, Djokovic moved ahead of Pete Sampras into third on the men's all-time list of Grand Slam title winners (15), just two behind Rafa Nadal. Roger Federer is still out in front with 20.
Multiple Olympic champion Biles in November became the all-time leading world gymnastics championship gold medal winner with a record 14 golds.
With 20 overall medals at the worlds, Biles, who has also won four Olympic golds, tied Russia's Svetlana Khorkina for the most by a female gymnast in world championships competition. Her all-around world title was her fourth, also a record.
Yuwa, a Jharkhand-based NGO which works for girl empowerment won the Laureus Sport for Good Award, becoming the third Indian entry to bag the honour. Neeta Kumari, Hema Kumari, Konika Kumari, and Radha Kumari where there to receive the award.
The NGO, founded by Americans Franz Gastler and Rose Thomson Gastler in 2009, runs a football program in rural Jharkhand covering 450 girls.
India bagged this award fifteen years after the cricket teams of India and Pakistan won it for spreading the message of peace through sport and four years after Red Bus bagged it.
“The award came as a surprise. In December we were told about it. That the academy members wanted to recognise the work we were doing is incredible,” said Franz Gastler, founder of Yuwa.
The girls played some street football in Monaco and Brazilian World Cup-winning captain Cafu, Wenger and Becker tried matching their skills.
Arsene Wenger also praised and girls saying, “At least they were trying to play as a team. In football, 11 selfish people play together. The girls were good technically. The 21st century will be for women only and this is the right way”.
The comeback of the year award was handed to U.S. golfer Tiger Woods, who silenced even his harshest critics when he earned what some consider to be one of the greatest victories of his career at last year's Tour Championship season finale.
Woods, who collected the last of his 14 majors at the 2008 U.S. Open, has had plenty of health-related setbacks, having to endure several knee and back surgeries, and his career seemed to be nearing its end in 2017.
Japan's world number one women's tennis player Naomi Osaka, who lifted her first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open last year and went on to claim the 2019 Australian Open, won the breakthrough of the year award.
(Inputs from Reuters)
Nominees for Sportsman of the Year:
Novak Djokovic (Tennis)
Lewis Hamilton (Motosport)
Lebron James (Basketball)
Eliud Kipchoge (Athletics)
Kylian Mbappe (Football)
Luka Modric (Football)
(Image: Reuters)
American Biles, 21, was named Sportswoman of the Year after winning four gold medals, one silver, and one bronze at the 2018 World Championships.
Nominees for Sportswoman of the Year:
Simone Biles (Athletics)
Simona Halep (Tennis)
Angelique Kerber (Tennis)
Ester Ledecka (Skiing/Snowboarding)
Daniela Ryf (Ironman Triathlon)
Mikaela Shiffrin (Skiing)
(Image: AFP)
Tiger Woods has received the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award after he returned to winning ways on the PGA Tour in 2018.
Following four operations on his back in the space of just over three years, 14-time major champion Woods claimed his first win in 1,876 days at the Tour Championship.
It is the 43-year-old's third Laureus award, having been named Sportsman of the Year in 2000 and 2001.
Nominees for Comeback of the Year:
Yuzuru Hanyu (Skating)
Mark Mcmorris (Snowboarding)
Bibian Mentel-Spee (Paralympic Snowboarding)
Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling)
Lindsey Vonn (Skiing)
Tiger Woods (Golf)
(Image: AFP)
The two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka’s breakthrough season was honored at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco.
Nominees for Breakthrough of the Year
Ana Carrasco (Motorsport)
Sofia Goggia (Skiing)
Jakob Ingebrigsten (Athletics)
Naomi Osaka (Tennis)
Geraint Thomas (Cycling)
Briana Williams (Athletics)
(Image: AFP)
Slovak alpine skier Henrieta Farkasova and her guide Natalia Subrtova won the Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award.
Nominees for Sportsperson of the Year with a disability:
Henrieta Farkasova (Skiing)
Diede de Groot (Wheelchair Tennis)
Brian McKeever (Cross-country Skiing)
Oksana Masters (Cross-country Skiing)
Grigorios Polychronidis (Boccia)
Markus Rehm (Athletics)
(Image: AFP)
Korean-American Olympic snowboard champion Chloe Kim won the Action Sportsperson of the Year award.
Kim, who at 17 became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal when she took the halfpipe title at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
Nominees for World Action Sportsperson of the Year
Maya Gabeira (Surfing)
Anna Gasser (Snowboarding)
Stephanie Gilmore (Surfing)
Chloe Kim (Snowboarding)
Gabriela Medina (Surfing)
Shaun White (Snowboarding)
(Image: AFP)
French national football team coach Didier Deschamps (C) poses with fellow coaches Guy Stéphan (R) and Franck Raviot (L) receive the Team of the Year award.
Deschamps became the first Frenchman to win the FIFA World Cup as coach and captain (1998).
Nominees for Team of the Year
European Ryder Cup team (Golf)
France World Cup team (Football)
Golden State Warriors (Basketball)
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team (Motorsport)
Norway Winter Olympics team (Athletics)
Real Madrid (Football)
(Image: Reuters)
Chinese double amputee Xia Boyu's achievement in climbing Mt. Qomolangma last May, four decades after losing both legs to frostbite in a previous attempt to conquer it, was declared the Sporting Moment of the Year.
Xia lost both his legs in 1975 as a result of frostbite during his first attempt to reach the world's highest peak of Qomolangma. He again challenged the summit in 2014, 2015 and 2016 as well, but could not due to an avalanche, earthquake and bad weather respectively.
However, in his fifth attempt on May 14, 2018, he became the first Chinese double amputee climber to reach the summit of Qomolangma.
(Image: Reuters)
Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge was handed the awarded of Exceptional Achievement at the Laureus Sports Awards for his world record feat in Germany last year.
Kipchoge smashed the previous best by an incredible 78 seconds as he clocked 2hr 1min 39sec.
Kipchoge was also nominated for the sportsman of the year award, a category won by Serbian Tennis sensation Novak Djokovic.
(Image: AFP)
Arsene Wenger wins the Laureus Lifetime Achievement award. Wenger was recognised with the special honour for his three Prem titles and seven FA Cup victories during 22 years in North London.
In another surprise for Wenger, arch-rival Jose Mourinho paid a glowing tribute to him. The former Man Utd manager recorded a video message to the unemployed Frenchman, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the glitzy ceremony in Monaco.
(Image: Reuters)
US ski star Lindsey Vonn picked up the Spirit of Sport award. Vonn, who retired as the greatest female skier in history earlier this month, was awarded the accolade for her success and dedication to her sport.
By winning downhill bronze in her final race, she became the oldest woman to secure a medal at world championships and the first female racer to medal at six world championships.
(Image: Reuters)
Indian-based NGO Yuwa wins the Sports For Good award. Neeta Kumari, Hema Kumari, Konika Kumari, and Radha Kumari received the award.
Yuwa, an NGO started in Jharkhand by Americans Franz Gastler and Rose Thomson Gastler for empowering the girl child using football has been chosen as the winner among hundreds of programmes around the world.
(Image: Reuters)