The Oscar-winning American actor Kevin Spacey will host the 2010 Laureus World Sports Awards in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday at the Emirates Palace hotel. The annual gala, which is being staged for the first time in the Middle East, recognises athletic achievement from the previous year. The award is one of the top honours in international sport, with winners chosen from a shortlist of nominees and voted for by members of the Laureus World Sports Academy.
The jury is comprised of 46 renowned athletes. Joining the Hollywood actors Kyle MacLachlan and Michelle Rodriguez, and the British stars Hugh Grant and Clive Owen, will be celebrated athletes from around the world. Among them will be the Egyptian footballer Abdel Zaher el Saka, the 2009 WBA world light-welterweight champion Amir Khan of Britain, and the retired basketball hall-of-famer Julius Erving of the US.
Other athletes include the Iranian-French tennis player Mansour Bahrami, the Irish boxing legend Barry McGuigan and the retired South African cricketer Shaun Pollock. The retired Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka will also be on hand. The names of the winners, who will be honoured in categories such as Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year, Team of the Year, Comeback of the Year and Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, will be announced at a ceremony that will be broadcast live on Dubai 1 starting at 8pm.
From 2000 to 2003, the ceremony was held in Monaco before moving to Lisbon in 2004. Barcelona hosted the event from 2005 to 2007, followed by St Petersburg, Russia, in 2008. Organisers cancelled the ceremony last year due to the global economic crisis. @Email:mkwong@thenational.ae
