February 18, 2008	Monday	Safar 10, 1429

ST PETERSBURG (Russia), Feb 17: Roger Federer is favourite to carry off the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award for an unprecedented fourth straight year here on Monday.

The Swiss star took the honour in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and in the last 12 months he has added three more Grand Slam titles to his name at Wimbledon and in the Australian and US Opens.

That leaves him just two short of the all-time Grand Slam titles record of 14 currently held by Pete Sampras.

His five-set win over Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final emulated Bjorn Borg’s five titles in a row almost 30 years ago, whilst his fourth straight US Open title is the longest winning stretch since Bill Tilden won six in a row from 1920 to 1925.

It was also the third straight year that he won three out of four Grand Slam titles with only the French Open crown missing from his repertoire.

Short-listed to oppose Federer for the Laureus award is two-time former winner (2000, 2001) Tiger Woods.

Golf’s world No 1 won only one Major championship in 2007 at the US PGA, but he tied for second at the Masters and US Open and won seven times on the US Tour including the season-ending Tour Championship event.

The others short-listed are US world championship sprinter Tyson Gay, Brazil’s World Footballer of the Year Kaka, outstanding US swimmer Michael Phelps, and Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen of Finland.

There could be a repeat winner in the women’s section also with Russian pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva once again short-listed.

She continued to dominate her event last year winning the world title in Osaka. She also broke the world indoor record in Donetsk clearing 4.93 metres – her 20th world record.

The Russian will have strong competition, however, from the world No 1 tennis player Justine Henin.

The Belgian opened the year under a cloud surrounding the break-up of her marriage. But she bounced back to win the French and US Opens and firmly established her position atop the world rankings.

During the year she lost only four out of 67 matches and her winning percentage was 94 percent, the best in women’s tennis since 1989.

Other contestants for the award are Swedish heptathlete Carolina Kluft, Australian swimmer Libby Lenton, Brazilian footballer Marta and Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa.

The other major title to be accorded is the World Team of the Year where South Africa’s Rugby World Cup will have competition from the winners of the cricketing equivalent, Australia.

Also in the mix are European Champions League winners AC Milan, Formula One World Champions Ferrari, women’s World Cup winners Germany and Asia Cup football winners Iraq.

Last year’s award went to football World Cup winners Italy.—AFP