Nominees for 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards Announced

Bonn, Germany - The Laureus World Sports Academy has announced the six nominations for the World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability category for the Laureus World Sports Awards 2009. Medallists from the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games dominate the nominations: 22 Apr 2009 By IPC

Daniel Dias (Brazil), Swimming

April Holmes (USA), Athletics

Darren Kenny (Great Britain), Cycling

Jonas Jacobssen (Sweden), Shooting

Teresa Perales (Spain), Swimming

Zhang Lixin (China), Athletics.

A specialist panel consisting of experienced representatives in the field of Paralympic Sport and the Paralympic Movement nominates six candidates for this category based on submissions from the IPC membership. The nominations from the specialist panel are submitted to the Laureus World Sports Academy, who then elects the award winner.

Laureus World Sports Academy Chairperson Edwin Moses said: “This has been a great year for sport and the Academy are going to find it extremely difficult to decide who to vote for as winners. This is always the case in an Olympic and Paralympic year, but we have had some very strong performances from the non-Olympic sports. I congratulate all the nominees”.

Laureus and its Partners recently made the decision that due to the current economic situation it would be inappropriate to stage a full-scale Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony at this time. Accordingly Laureus will forego its usual spring celebration. A key focus for Laureus during 2009 will now be to support the funding and activities of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

Therefore, the winners of this year's Laureus World Sports Awards will receive their awards individually at a series of presentations during May and June.

The Laureus World Sports Awards, which will be given for the tenth time this year, celebrate sporting excellence across all disciplines and all continents. Awards are bestowed in a range of categories, including World Sportsman and World Sportswoman of the Year, World Team of the Year, World Breakthrough of the Year, World Comeback of the Year, World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability and World Action Sportsperson of the Year.

For more information, please visit the official website at www.laureus.com .