GERMANY: BASKETBALL - The Dallas Mavericks NBA star, German Dirk Nowitzki, has been voted the Most Valuable Player - the first European to be awarded the title

He is the first European player to be awarded one of the United States most prestigious sporting awards - the German basketball player Dirk Nowitzki has been voted Most Valuable Player by the US Basketball League, the NBA. The award makes up for his team being knocked out of the play offs so early, said the Dallas Mavericks player on Tuesday (May 22) on his return to Germany. "When a few weeks have gone by then I will also be able say that it was an unbelievable season, an unbelievable achievement which we managed. I mean the 67 victories out of 82 games. I think that there are only five out of the other six teams which played a better season than we did this year. So it was a super year, apart from the playoffs," Nowitzki told reporters in Frankfurt. The 2.13 metre tall player from Wuerzburg in southern Germany said it was something he would be able to boast about for the rest of his life. "I am really very proud. I think that when my career is over in ten, 15 or 20 years, then it will be a huge honour to have been voted the Most Valuable Player of the best league in the world," he said, laughing with the audience. The 29-year-old added, "There aren't that many people who can say that about themselves. That is something which I will be able to talk about for the rest of my life and it's definitely a great thing which makes me very proud. But at the moment the disappointment is still too much." Despite their record season, the Dallas Mavericks were knocked out of the first round of the Western Conference against the Golden State Warriors.

ITN Source | May 23, 2007

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