Alinghi crew lead teams challenging for 2005 Laureus Regatta

• America’s Cup winners take to the water in Portugal
• Desafio Espanol, Luna Rossa and Shosholoza crews also in action
• Laureus World Sports Awards to be held in Estoril, May 14-16

Switzerland’s America’s Cup winners Alinghi lead a strong line-up of America’s Cup crews in the prestigious Laureus Regatta, to be held in the seas off the Marina de Cascais, Portugal.

The two-day match-racing event, presented by AMG and IWC Schaffhausen, will be contested on May 15-16 as part of the sixth annual Laureus World Sports Awards.

Competing against Alinghi will be crews from Spain’s Desafio Espanol, Italy’s Luna Rossa and South Africa’s Shosholoza. The winning skipper will receive the keys to a brand new Mercedes-Benz AMG SLK200K, while each winning crew member receives a superbly crafted IWC watch.

Each crew will be racing in Swedish Match 40 yachts, with round-robin races on Sunday, May 15 and semi-finals and final on Monday, May 16.

The Alinghi crew will consist of Peter Holmberg, Bernard Labro, Warwick Fleury, Murray Jones and Lorenzo Mazza; the Desafio Espanol crew is Luis Doreste, Karol Jablonski, Enrique, Cameselle, Domingo Manrique and Miguel Nuno Santos Barreto; and the Luna Rosa team is Francesco Bruni, Massimo Gherarducci, Manuela Modena, Thomas Burnham and Massimiliano Sirena. The Shosholoza crew will be announced in the next few days.

The Laureus Awards Ceremony is the climax of two days of exciting sports events including the Laureus Regatta, the Laureus Golf Challenge and the Laureus Beach Festival at Tamariz Beach.

The Laureus Golf Challenge, hosted by Laureus Academy member and golfing legend Gary Player, one of only five men to win golf's Grand Slam, will take place at Penha Longa, the Robert Trent Jones II designed course between Sintra and Cascais, while the Laureus Beach Festival will take place on the spectacular strip of sand between Estoril and Cascais will include beach volleyball, football and tennis.

The Laureus World Sports Awards has established a unique place in the sporting calendar, honouring the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen from around the world and across all sports. The winners are selected by the ultimate sports jury - the Laureus World Sports Academy, a unique collection of 40 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, led by Chairman Edwin Moses. The sixth annual Laureus World Sports Awards will be held in Estoril, Portugal, from May 14-16, 2005. The Awards Ceremony, which is seen by a worldwide first run TV audience of 460 million, will be staged at the Casino Estoril on the evening of Monday, May 16. Laureus TV programming annually attracts an audience of over one billion.

Last year's Awards Ceremony was one of the highlights of the sporting year. Football legend Luis Figo was in the audience along with Hollywood actors Michael Douglas and Morgan Freeman, renowned tenor Placido Domingo and His Excellency Jose Barroso, the former Prime Minister of Portugal and currently the European Commission President.

More Information:

• www.laureus.com