Afghanistan cricket team win Laureus Spirit of Sport Award

The Afghanistan Cricket Team

The Afghanistan Cricket team have won the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award 2014 while they were also nominated for the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year, which was won by Moto GP prodigy Marc Marquez.

The Afghanistan team have gone against all odds to make a name for themselves. Even when their country is in chaos due to war, the team has not given up on cricket and they deserve applause for their efforts.

They defeated hosts Bangladesh in the recently concluded Asia Cup, while also giving tough competitions to giants of the game like Australia and Pakistan recently.

No cricket team before Afghanistan has ever won the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award. The Spirit of Sport is not awarded every year and as such is a very special award, which has previously been awarded on only 5 occasions, last of which was in 2011.

The Laureus World Sports Awards are widely considered to be the Oscars of sports, and is held annually to honour remarkable individual and team achievements throughout the year.

There are seven nominations under Laureus, six of which are: Laureus World Sportsman, Sportswoman, Team, Breakthrough, Comeback and Action Sports Awards. The nominees are decided by the votes of Laureus Media Selection Panel, which consists of leading sports editors, writers, broadcasters and online journalists from around the world.

The Laureus World Sportsperson with a Disability Award is chosen by a specialist panel.

The voting for the winners in all the seven categories is carried out, where members of the Laureus World Sports Academy cast their vote by secret ballot.

The Spirit of Sport Award is won by the Afghanistan Cricket Team. #LWSA14

— Laureus (@LaureusSport) March 26, 2014