Laureus Awards 2020 Highlights: Tendulkar, Springboks win for World Cup wins; Hamilton, Messi share honours
Here are the highlights from the Laureus Awards 2020 in Berlin. The Springboks, Sachin Tendulkar and Oksana Masters were among winners of the night.
Published : Feb 17, 2020 21:00 IST
Hello and welcome to the highlights of Sportstar's coverage of the Laureus World Sports Awards 2020. I'm Lavanya and I will be taking you through the ceremony this evening. Our correspondent, Stan Rayan , brought us updates live from Berlin. As it happened: Thanks for joining us tonight. Keep up with us on Sportstar for news and updates from across the world of sport. Goodbye and goodnight!
The full list of winners is: Laureus World Sportsman of the Year: Lewis Hamilton and Lionel Messi Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year: Simone Biles Laureus World Team of the Year: South Africa Men’s Rugby Team Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year: Egan Bernal Laureus World Comeback of the Year: Sophia Flörsch Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability: Oksana Masters Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year: Chloe Kim Laureus Best Sporting Moment: ‘Carried on the shoulders of a nation’ – Sachin Tendulkar Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award: Dirk Nowitzki Laureus Academy Exceptional Achievement Award: Spanish Basketball Federation Laureus Sport for Good Award: South Bronx United |
And now, for the most prestigious award of the night - the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award . German basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki for his contribution to the sport. Widely regarded to be the greatest European basketball player ever, Nowitzki spent his entire 21-year career at the Dallas Mavericks. Nowitzki retired at the end of the 2018-19 season, and will go down in history as the only player to record at least 31,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists, 1,000 steals, 1,000 blocks and 1,000 three-pointers. This was our tweet earlier. Move aside, Paul. We have new soothsayers in town.
Like we said earlier, Siya Kolisi was born ready to take this award tonight. The Springboks win the Laureus Team of the Year for their incredible triumph in the Rugby World Cup in 2019. Siya Kolisi gave a passionate acceptance speech about the power of sport and the influence of a sportsperson. Kolisi for PM anyone?
A racing accident at the Macau Grand Prix in 2018 left
Sophia Floersch
with a spinal fracture that required a 11-hour surgery and months of rehab, but the Mercedes F3 driver completed a remarkable recovery to get back to the circuit she crashed at a year later. Sophia won the
Laureus World Comeback of the Year award
. Mercedes drivers have had a great haul at the awards this year.
11.30 pm: If you followed our tweets on @Sportstarweb, you'd see a range of sporting icons from across the fields coming together under one roof for a celebration of sporting excellence in the year gone by. We are a few minutes away from the ceremony itself. 10.30pm: It's time for the red carpet. The stars have started to congregate here at the Verti Music Hall. Stay with us for the main ceremony. We are scheduled to begin at 11.30pm IST. There's been a small change in personnel at Berlin. Sharon Stone, who was slated to host the ceremony has had to withdraw and taking her place is none other than Golden Globe winning actor, Hugh Grant.
Here are the nominees this year:
SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR Lewis Hamilton Lionel Messi Eliud Kipchoge Marc Marquez Rafael Nadal Tiger Woods |
Eliud Kipchoge will become the first African man to win this award if he does tonight. If he does, he will be joining the likes of Michael Schumacher, Usain Bolt, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Sebastian Vettel if he does. Stan caught up with him earlier and here is what he had to say. READ :
SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR Megan Rapinoe Allyson Felix Naomi Osaka Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Simone Biles Mikaela Shiffrin |
Can World Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce manage to pip World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe for top honours or will it be America's most decorated gymnast, Simone Biles who walks away with the trophy? Stay with us to find out.
COMEBACK OF THE YEAR Nathan Adrian Christian Lealiifano Kawhi Leonard Liverpool FC Andy Murray Sophia Floersch |
ACTION SPORTSPERSON Nyjah Huston Italo Ferreira Mark McMorris Chloe Kim Rayssa Leal Carissa Moore |
SPORTSPERSON WITH DISABILITY Diede de Groot Omara Durand Oksana Masters Alice Tai Jetze Plat Manuela Schar |
BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR Egan Bernal Regan Smith Andy Ruiz Jr. Japan National Rugby Union Team Bianca Andreescu Coco Gauff |
TEAM OF THE YEAR Mercedes AMG Petronas Spain Men's National Basketball Team Toronto Raptors United States Women's national soccer team Liverpool FC South Africa national rugby team |
SPORTING MOMENT 2000-2020 Sachin Tendulkar Associacao Chapecoense de Futebol Mick Schumacher Natalie du Toit Xia Boyu |
Eliud Kipchoge appeared to be a big favourite to win the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award when he made history by running the marathon under two hours late last year but the new developments in his running shoes story are likely to add a twist to his chances.
The World Athletics, the sport's governing body, had banned the shoes which Kipchoge wore on his under-two hours run to make the sport equal for all. The Laureus awards will be presented at the Verti Music Hall here on Monday night and Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal, who with 19 is very close to Roger Federer's all-time Grand Slam title record of 20, F1 star Lewis Hamilton, football great Lionel Messi, golf's great comeback man Tiger Woods and motorcycling star Marc Marquez are the other nominees for the men's award.
Meanwhile, two track and field moms, Allyson Felix and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who lit up the World Championships in Doha last year, footballer Megan Rapinoe, tennis star Naomi Osaka, gymnastic wonder Simone Biles and Mikaela Shiffrin (skiing) are in the race for the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year title. Meanwhile, one hears that Sachin Tendulkar's 'Carried on the shoulders of the nation' – the scene after India's 2011 ICC World Cup triumph at home – is among the top favourites for the Laureus Sporting Moment for the years 2000-2020 with South African female amputee swimmer Natalie du Toit expected to give the Indian cricketer a hot fight. Toit became the first female amputee swimmer ever to qualify for the able-bodied Olympics in 2008 in Beijing. The Laureus Sport for Good award was presented on Sunday and it went to South Bronx United, a project which used football to change the lives of young people and poor communities in New York. Andrew So, SBU's co-founder and executive director, and two inspiring youngsters who benefited from the project – Mohammed Konate, who came from the Ivory Coast to the US many years ago, and Maria Martinez – received the award. Throwback to Laureus 2019
Here's a little something to help brush up your memory of the awards and the winners last year - from Novak Djokovic and Arsene Wenger to Naomi Osaka.
Where to watch
The Laureus Awards 2020 will be telecast on the Star Sports Network. You can also stream the awards on Hotstar.