Chapter 511: Lawrence Award

Chapter 511: Lawrence Award

For Wang Feng, it was a great disappointment to be eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey. Since joining Real Madrid, he has continuously won championships in the league and the Champions League, but has only won one cup championship.

But with every loss comes a gain. Ending the Copa del Rey campaign early allows the players to focus more and be undistracted. Following this, they achieved victories in the next three league matches against Mallorca, Osasuna, and Real Sociedad.

With this, Real Madrid completed a nine-game winning streak. After 22 rounds, they had 18 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses, totaling 56 points, ranking second. Barcelona continued to top the table with 19 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss, totaling 59 points. The point difference between the two teams narrowed from 5 points to 3 points, reigniting Real Madrid's hopes for the title.

As for the top scorer, Wang Feng contributed 33 goals, firmly holding the top spot, while Messi ranked second with 26 goals.

After the match against Real Sociedad, the Chinese superstar asked for leave from the club and went to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to attend the 2010 Lawrence World Sports Awards ceremony. Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com

Soon, this news was exposed by Real Madrid's accompanying reporters and quickly spread across Europe. Many people were very puzzled as to why the Chinese superstar would specially attend the awards ceremony.

The Lawrence Awards were established in 2000 by Daimler and Richemont and have been supported by global partners Mercedes-Benz and IWC Schaffhausen. It is one of the most influential awards in the world of sports and a global sports awards ceremony.

However, it has always been unrelated to football and focuses more on individual athlete performance. Therefore, rarely are nominated footballers present. For example, Wang Feng himself has been a nominee for the Sportsman of the Year award since 2002, but has never attended the ceremony or won the award.

This time, the Chinese superstar specifically asked for leave from the club to attend. Could it be that he had a great chance of becoming the first footballer to win this prestigious award?

For a while, the media speculated, and everyone's attention was focused on the upcoming awards ceremony.

At eight o'clock in the evening, the awards ceremony officially began. The hosts were the famous actors Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams.

The first award announced was the Best Team award. Both Real Madrid, the four-time consecutive champions, and the Chinese national football team, which won its first championship, were nominated. In the end, the Chinese team unsurprisingly won the award.

The second award was the Best Newcomer, and German young talent Thomas Mueller, who performed well in the World Cup, was nominated. He competed against several golf and athletics newcomers without any doubt and lost. The eventual winner was golfing legend Martin Kaymer.

After a brief song and dance performance, the awards ceremony continued. The Best Comeback award went to Italian motorcyclist Valentino Rossi, the Disabled Athlete award went to German skier Verena Bentele, and the Best Action Sports Athlete award went to American surfer Kelly Slater.

With all five individual awards announced, Fox announced that there would be three additional awards at this year's Lawrence. The first was the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to the French football king, Zinedine Zidane.

The Best Sporting Lifestyle award went to the European Ryder Cup team, and the Sports for Good award went to the founder of the Beirut Marathon, May El-Khalil from Lebanon.

Finally, the Best Female Athlete award, for the third consecutive time, was won by the skiing star Lindsey Vonn, who won both the World Cup and the Winter Olympics downhill gold medals. She defeated three tennis stars, Williams, Clijsters, and Wozniacki, as well as two athletics stars, Vlasic and Ennis, becoming the second ice and snow sports athlete to win the Lawrence after Kostelic.

As for the final and most anticipated award, the Best Male Athlete, there were five candidates competing with Wang Feng: Kobe Bryant, Messi, Iniesta, Nadal, and Vettel.

Among them, Nadal was the most competitive. He won the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open championships last year, completing a Grand Slam, and ranked first in the ATP rankings.

When Edwin Moses, the chairman of the Lawrence Foundation, appeared with an envelope, everyone's hearts tightened. Who would win the award? Could the glamorous Wang Feng break the norm and become the first team sportsman to win this honor?

Moses intriguingly introduced the achievements of each candidate in 2010. When it came to Wang Feng, he naturally mentioned leading the Chinese team to win the first World Cup championship and his remarkable tally of 15 goals in a single tournament.

Seeing the whispers in the audience gradually growing louder, the American finally tore open the envelope and pulled out the card with the name of the winner written on it. After scanning the scene, he said firmly, "The winner of the 2010 Lawrence Sportsman of the Year is... the Chinese footballer Wang Feng!"