Murray favourite to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year award
London – The British media has claimed that Wimbledon Champion Andy Murray will start as one of the shortest-priced favourites when the 10-strong shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year is announced on Tuesday.
According to the Guardian, the Wimbledon champion is a virtual certainty to take the award, having finished third last year behind the winner Sir Bradley Wiggins and Jessica Ennis.
A panel of experts will select the shortlist, with viewers voting for the candidates during the show at the First Direct Arena in Leeds on 15 December, the report said.
Other likely contenders include the jockey Tony McCoy, the 2010 winner, who rode his 4,000th career victory this month, and Mo Farah, who secured double athletics gold at the world championships in Moscow, the report added.
The Tour de France winner Chris Froome and the US Open champion Justin Rose are expected to make the cut, and Gareth Bale’s dazzling performances for Tottenham, not to mention his world record transfer, make him football’s leading contender, the report further said.
Jimmy Anderson’s 22-wicket haul in the first 2013 Ashes series could win him the cricket vote and Ronnie O’Sullivan may earn a place on the list after his snooker comeback culminated in his fifth world title in May, according to the report.
If successful, Murray will be the fourth tennis player to win the award and the first since Greg Rusedski beat Tim Henman to the title in 1997, the report mentioned.
