Talk about an unexpected rebound hookup.
The 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards will be held in Kuala Lumpur on March 26, in an announcement by the organizers just three weeks after ending their hosting contract with Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
The announcement was made by Laureus World Sports Academy chairman Edwin Moses, taking the awards event, dubbed the Oscars of the sports world, to Southeast Asia for the first time.
He said, “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.
“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.”
Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, Minister of Tourism and Culture in Malaysia, said: “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.”
“This is a sports-loving country and I can promise warm Malaysian hospitality awaits all our guests.”
Past winners of the Laureus Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year include such global luminaris as golfer Tiger Woods, tennis champs Roger Federer and Serena Williams, sprinter Usain Bolt, and skier Lindsey Vonn.
Although neither the Laureus committee nor Rio city officials have come forward with details behind the city’s cancellation as host, Brazilian newspaper O Globo implied financial problems being at the root of the issue. It claimed Rio authorities owed Laureus USD15 million (RM50 million).
Source: Inside The Games
