Inaugural ‘People’s Choice’ sports award garners more than 4.6 million votes across Asia
14 January 2009, Singapore: Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao has been adjudged by sports fans in Asia as www.espnstar.com’s first ‘Champion of Champions’, seeing off a field that included some of the world’s top names to stand out as 2008’s top Sports Personality. After four exciting rounds of elimination in December, the campaign garnered more than 4.6 million votes from across the region.
It was a landslide victory for Pacquiao, who earned more than 90% of 1.6 million votes in the final round against the World No.1 women’s squash player, Nicol David of Malaysia. On route to the final stage, he knocked out a string of high-profile sportsmen including motorcycle racing champion Valentino Rossi in the first round, Spanish football hero Fernando Torres in the quarterfinal, before outvoting Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar in the semi-finals.
Pacquiao triumphed over a list of 16 world-class athletes which comprised other top sports personalities such as the World No. 1 ranked tennis player Rafael Nadal, reigning National Basketball Association MVP Kobe Bryant, golf superstar Tiger Woods and Beijing Olympics air rifle sharp-shooter Abhinav Bindra - India's first Olympic gold medalist in 28 years.
In the first round, cricket fans appeared to favour Sourav Ganguly’s heroics over MS Dhoni’s swashbuckling leadership in the battle between two celebrated Indian captains. Malaysian squash supporters and football fans in Asia made their voices heard when Nicol David and Ronaldo ousted two Beijing Olympics record-breakers Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt respectively. The quarterfinals saw two Manchester United celebrities kicked out of the competition when fans of Tendulkar outvoted supporters of manager Alex Ferguson, and Nicol David edged out Ronaldo. David then beat Ganguly by a narrow margin in the semi-finals, before conceding to Pacquiao in the final.
The initiative was organised by ESPN STAR Sports’ website www.espnstar.com in conjunction with Asia’s most popular sports news show SportsCenter on ESPN, with aim of garnering public opinion to determine the individual who has gone beyond achievements and new levels of excellence to leave his or her mark on sports fans in 2008. The original list of 16 was pre-determined by fans across the region through forums, and the voting mechanism was in the form of a knock-out format. The sports personalities were drawn against each other in pairs through an open draw and members of the public casted their votes on www.espnstar.com. The final result of the Champion of Champions was announced live on SportsCenter Asia on December 31st.
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