2012 Laureus World Sports Award winner Novak Djokovic of Serbia with his award in London.
KUALA LUMPUR: The 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards, the premier honours event in the international sporting calendar, is to be held here on March 26.
The globally televised awards ceremony, attended by living legends of sport, celebrates the achievements of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen each year.
This is the 15th year of the Laureus World Sports Awards and Edwin Moses, Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, said: “I am delighted that the 2014 Awards is to be staged in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is an exciting development that Laureus is being held in South East Asia for the first time, enabling the Laureus message to be extended to a new part of the world.”
Moses added: “Of course this will be a very emotional occasion as it is the first Awards since the death of our Patron, the great Nelson Mandela, and I am sure with the support of everyone in Kuala Lumpur it will be an Awards Ceremony to remember where we can salute today’s sporting heroes and pay tribute to President Mandela.”
The winners of Laureus World Sports Awards are selected by the ultimate sports jury — the 46 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, the living legends of sport honouring the greatest athletes of today.
The sporting greats who won the awards over the 15 years were Usain Bolt, Sebastian Coe, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Alex Ferguson, Lewis Hamilton, Kelly Holmes, Rafael Nadal, Pele, Steve Redgrave, Ronaldo, Michael Schumacher, Kelly Slater, Shaun White, Serena Williams and Zinedine Zidane.
Guests attending the awards ceremony included King Juan Carlos of Spain, Prince Albert of Monaco, David and Victoria Beckham, Sean Connery, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Morgan Freeman, Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey.
YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri, Minister of Tourism & Culture of Malaysia, said in a statement: “Kuala Lumpur is honoured to have been given the privilege of hosting the prestigious 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards and the city looks forward to staging this internationally-renowned event and welcoming a plethora of sporting legends to Malaysia.”
Nazri added: “This is a sports-loving country and I can promise warm Malaysian hospitality awaits all our guests.”
The Minister said: “We are proud to count badminton world No. 1, Dato’ Lee Chong Wei, squash world champion Dato’ Nicol David and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in platform diving Pandelela Rinong as products of our sports culture. Coupled with international events such as the Monsoon Cup and Formula One Grand Prix, we are supremely confident that Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is the perfect host for a sporting event with such global significance. I am positive this will be an event to remember for all involved.”
Proceeds from the Laureus World Sports Awards directly benefit and underpin the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which supports more than 140 community sports projects around the world that have helped to improve the lives of over one-and-a-half million young people.
Laureus was founded by its Patrons Richemont and Daimler and is supported by its Global Partners Mercedes-Benz makers and IWC Schaffhausen.
The Peninsula
