Nominations for Laureus awards in Abu Dhabi announced

Abu Dhabi: Nominations for the 2011 Laureus World Sports Awards to be held in Abu Dhabi on February 7 were announced on Tuesday in the capital at Emirates Palace by Laureus Academy Chairman and former 400m Olympic gold medalist, Edwin Moses.

A total of six names in all seven categories including; sportsman and woman of the year, team of the year, breakthrough, comeback, sportsperson with a disability and action sportsperson, were put forward by 700 of the world's finest sports journalists. 

The Laureus Academy, a select group of 46 of the world's greatest living legends in sport, will now select one name from each category in a secret ballot.

Moses' native US have the most nominees per nation (eight) including basketball's Kobe Bryant for sportsman of the year and alpine skier Lindsey Vonn up against Serena Williams in sportswoman of the year.

Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao joined Bryant, football's Andres Iniesta and tennis' Rafael Nadal as nominees for the sportman of the year award.

The LA Lakers are in with a shot of team of the year, while golf's Paula Creamer and Athletic's Tyson Gay compete for comeback of the year. There were also two action nominations from the US in surfing's Kelly Slater and snowboarding's Shaun White.

Spain and Germany came second in the nation stakes with four nominations apiece with Spain's World Cup winning side and youngest F1 world champion both notable respective recommendations. 

Athletics was the most common sport with seven selections including Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic up against the UK's heptathlete Jessica Ennis for sportswoman of the year.

While French sprint specialist Christophe Lemaitre joins countryman triple jumper Teddy Tamgho in the breakthrough of 2010.

Sprinter Tyson Gay is up against Swedish heptathlete Carolina Kluft and Slovenian sprinter Merlene Ottey.

Tennis got six nominees including Rafael Nadal, while football and golf shared five most marked being Lionel Messi and The European Ryder Cup team.

Notable absences amid the awards, criticised for being too euro-centric, were Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan.

Boxing's Klitchko brothers, football's Diego Forlan, golf's Graeme McDowell and triathlete Javiez Gomez were also missing despite mention in an earlier release.

Moto GP's Jorge Lorenzo, swimming's Camille Lacourt and javelin's Andreas Thorildsen also lost out on a mention including horse-racing's AP McCoy.

Edwin Moses said, “It's been a fantastic year for sport and this reflects in the fine caliber of nominees; what with the Fifa World Cup and Winter Olympics all these sports coming together makes for an exciting but difficult selection for the Academy.”

Joined by host partner Aabar Investments' PJS CEO Mohammad Budawy Al Husseiny and Mohammad Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, secretary general of Abu Dhabi Sports Council - Moses - sharing the top table with Laureus CEO Guy Saman and Academy Member Marcel Desailly, congratulated the nominees and stated their anticipation for the February 7 big announcements to be hosted by Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey.

The nominees

Sportman of the year

Sportswoman of the year

Team of the year

Breakthrough of the year

Comeback of the year

Sportsperson of year with disability   

Action sportsperson of the year