Schumacher wins Prince of Asturias sports prize

MADRID (AFP) — Germany's seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher was on Wednesday awarded one of Spain's highest honours, the Prince of Asturias prize for sports, organizers said.

Schumacher, 38, was chosen because his record "had turned him into a sports legend and the racer who has won the most trophies in the history of the sport" as well as for his charity work, said the jury that awards the sports prize.

"His generosity with the poor has transcended the borders of his country, a fact which was taken into account by the jury," it added in a statement.

Schumacher gave 1.15 million euros (1.56 million US dollars) to UN cultural organization UNESCO in 2005 and 10 million US dollars one year later to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in southeast Asia, the jury noted.

After winning two championships with Benetton, Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996 where he won five consecutive drivers' titles with them. He retired last year but occasionally still works for his former Ferrari team.

Schumacher beat 17 other candidates for the prize, including Iraq's national football team, which won the Asian Cup for the first time in history earlier this year, and a joint candidacy by tennis aces Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Former winners of the award include seven-times Tour de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong of the United States and Moroccan middle distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj who holds the world record for the 1,500-metre race.

It was awarded last year to Spain's national basketball team.

Spain's Crown Prince Felipe is the patron of the Asturias foundation which annually hands out eight awards -- each worth 50,000 euros (68,000 US dollars) -- in fields ranging from sports to science and literature.


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Vijay Mallya makes bid for Spyker F1 Team

 London, Sept. 1 (PTI): Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya has joined hands with Spyker director of Formula One, Michiel Mol, to make an 80 million euro bid for the struggling F1 team.

Mallya's Watson Limited and Strongwind, owned by the Mol family, made the joint bid for the Silverstone-based team.

"This offer has been accepted by the Board of Spyker Cars N.V. and exclusivity has been granted to the consortium Orange India Holdings Sarl to proceed with due diligence...to achieve completion within 30 days," they said in a joint statement.

Dutch manufacturer of hand-built vehicles, Spyker Cars NV, owns the Spyker Formula One team, which it inherited from Midland for USD 106.6 million last year only to plunge in financial crisis.

Mallya, a Member of the Parliament, is also the chairman of both the Federation of Motorsports Clubs in India (FMSCI) and Motorsport Association of India (MAI).

Mallya's Kingfisher brand adorns Toyota cars and the flamboyant industrialist, also called the 'King of good times', recently said in an interview that part of bringing F1 to India would be to have an Indian company involved in Formula One.