Australian sports woman of 2019 is Barty

Thursday, 17 October 2019:

ASHLEIGH BARTY
ASHLEIGH BARTY


World No.1 tennis player Ashleigh Barty's stellar 2019 continues to garner recognition after she was named Australia's sports woman of the year.

A week after winning The Don at the Sport Australia Hall Of Fame in Melbourne, Barty also took out the Women In Sport Moment of the Year for her French Open win.

Barty said she was fortunate to be nominated among so many other empowering women but to come away with the win was a bonus.

The Australian women's cricketers took out Team of the Year for a second time, while captain Meg Lanning won the leadership award.

Women Sport Australia communications director Louise Evans saluted Barty and the cricketers.

"Let's celebrate their amazing success, applaud their deserved achievements and not forget the fight for pay parity and equal media is ongoing," she said.

Evans pointed to the ICC T20 World Cups in Australia next year where the prize money pool is $US2.4 million ($A3.6 million) for the women's event compared to a prize pool of $US5.6 million ($A8.3 million) for the men.

Other winners at the Women's Health Women in Sport Awards included former netball captain Liz Ellis who was inducted into the Hall of Fame, and golfer Hannah Green who won the Federal Government Award for Outstanding Woman in Sport.

Lynne Anderson, the Bulldogs NRL chair and CEO of Paralympics Australia, was named the Person of Sporting Influence.






AAP