Formula One: German Nico Hulkenberg will drive for Force India next season, the F1 team said yesterday. Hulkenberg, 26, drove for Force India in 2012 having been a test driver there the previous year. “I am happy to come back to Sahara Force India. The team is aiming high for next year and I believe that the experience I have gained over the years will help us achieve those goals,” Hulkenberg, who finished 10th this season with Sauber, said.
Diving: British Olympic diver Tom Daley thanked his fans for their support and received the backing of British Swimming after announcing that he was dating a man. The 19-year-old Daley, who won bronze in the men’s 10 metre platform at last year’s London Games, tweeted: “Overwhelmed by all the support! Means the world! Thanks so much guys”. Daley had earlier made the announcement on YouTube, saying in a video: “Come spring this year my life changed massively when I met someone and everything just feels great... that someone is a guy.”
Rugby Union: New Zealand’s Kieran Read was named world player of the year as the all-conquering All Blacks completed a second successive clean sweep of the IRB’s annual awards yesterday. Steve Hansen was named coach of the year for the second year running and New Zealand captured the team of the year award for the fourth con-secutive occasion. Read beat off competition from compatriot Ben Smith, South Africa’s Eben Etze-beth, Wales’s Leigh Halfpenny and Italy’s Sergio Parisse for the International Rugby Board accolade.
Cricket: England captain Alastair Cook and fast bowler James Anderson have been named on the six-man short-list for the ICC Cricketer of the Year award for 2013. The En-gland duo are joined on the list of nominations by South Africa’s Hashim Amla, Australia’s Michael Clarke, Mahendra Singh Dhoni of India and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara. Anderson, Amla and Clarke are also among the six players in the running for the Test Cricketer of the Year, along with India pair Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin, plus South Africa’s Dale Steyn. Sangakkara won both awards in 2012.
Equestrian: London’s O2 Arena has been confirmed as one of four bidders to host the Equestrian World Cup finals in 2017. Both London and Omaha, Nebraska have applied to stage both the FEI World Cup Jumping and FEI World Cup Dressage finals. Hong Kong and Hertogenbosch have applied to host one final each. The winners of the bidding process will be an-nounced during an FEI Bureau meeting in June.