CBBC Newsround | Sport | Walcott wins Young Sports award (original) (raw)

Arsenal and England footballer Theo Walcott is the 2006 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.

Theo came second in the category 12 months ago, losing out to sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey.

This year the footballer went one better, to end a fantastic year in which he transferred to Arsenal and went to the World Cup with England.

Table tennis star Paul Drinkhall finished second and athlete Elizabeth Clegg was third.

Sportsround, which you can see on BBC Two every Saturday morning, has profiled all eight nominees for the award.

Elizabeth Clegg and Paul Drinkhall

Paul Drinkhall is already the number one player in England aged just 16, and practices six days a week.

In 2006 he took the Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min to seven games and three match points, something no player was able to do in the Athens Olympics in 2004.

Elizabeth is registered blind and won a silver medal at the IPC Athletics World Championships.

She would have won a second silver had she not been disqualified because her guide runner (who has not been with her long) crossed the finish line slightly before her.