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Germany international defender Martin Häner has been named as the Sports Scholar of the Year, an award for student athletes organised by Deutsche Bank and Germany Sport Aid.
It was a fantastic result for the 25 year old Berlin-based medical student, who will now benefit greatly by his current scholarship being doubled to a fantastic 600 Euros per month.
The Olympic Gold medallist from London 2012 and recent European champion emerged as the winner of this inaugural award thanks to the support of fans all around Germany who cast votes in an online poll. Over 7000 people voted, with Häner emerging top of a five-strong shortlist.
Incredibly, Häner was not the only hockey player on the list, with fellow Germany defender and regular captain Maximilian Müller also being amongst those put forward for the award by a panel of experts. The remainder of the shortlist was made up by Wheelchair Basketball player and Paralympic Gold medallist Mareike Adermann, Olympic Bronze medal winning Javelin thrower Linda Stahl and Andreas Kuffner, a member of the men’s eight that won rowing Gold for Germany at London 2012.
“The doubling of the scholarship is extremely important, that is a big part of my income every month”, said Häner in an interview with Sporthilfe.de. “However, at the moment I cannot even look that way because all of the candidates deserved this award, as all of them are just like me.”
Martin Häner was presented with his award at a special ceremony in Frankfurt by Deutsche Bank’s Jürgen Fitschen and Dr. Michael Ilgner of German Sports Aid.
