CAPE TOWN – Siya Kolisi made history by becoming the first black Springbok captain last year when he led the team to a series victory over England in June.
Now that special moment may become immortalised in world sporting history, after Kolisi made the final shortlist of three for the Laureus World Sporting Moment of the Year.
The public have been encouraged to vote, and Kolisi had enough to be included in the top three alongside former Scotland rugby lock Doddie Weir and Xia Boyu.
Boyu is a 69-year-old double amputee from China who managed to summit Mount Everest – on his fifth attempt. He lost his feet on his first attempt in 1975, when he gave a member of his team his sleeping bag, and made use of prosthetic legs to make the climb last year.
And finally 🇨🇳 Xia Boyu 🇨🇳 is our third finalist. Here’s Laureus Academy Member Li Xiaopeng with the update #Laureus19 pic.twitter.com/KCVdDcdQxp
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) February 11, 2019
Weir has Motor Neurone Disease (MND) – which also led to the death of Springbok great Joost van der Westhuizen. Weir has set up a foundation and is determined to find a cure for MND.
Thank you @gregortownsend and @LaureusSport and thank you to everyone who took time out to vote for me, and to @JillADouglas and social media expert @sweirz for drumming up so much support. Thank you everyone https://t.co/Z56c1jpJxC
— Doddie Weir (@DoddieWeir5) February 11, 2019
The Laureus World Sports Awards will take place in Monaco on Monday, February 18, and will be broadcast on SuperSport 2 (channel 202) at 8pm SA time.
Also in the top three is #siyakolisi. Springbok legend Jean de Villiers is our special correspondent with the news @Springboks pic.twitter.com/RKKq0WUlir
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) February 11, 2019
Siya Kolisi inspirational rise from growing up in the Zwide Township to becoming the first black Springbok Test captain has been selected as 1 of the 4 moments for the July Laureus Sporting Moment.
Head to https://t.co/MkACKtjnkr now and make your mark for our Captain! 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/S0wDH323wL
— Laureus South Africa (@Laureus_sa) July 2, 2018
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