Sports stars among those to collect honours

Pioneering sports stars are set to add to their medal collections as they line up to collect personal honours at Windsor Castle.

Former England football star Eniola Aluko, darts player Fallon Sherrock, ex-boxer Johnny Nelson and triathlete Non Stanford are each set to receive their MBEs at an investiture ceremony on Wednesday.

Former Lioness Aluko – who is a broadcaster and football executive, is one of the WSL’s all-time top goalscorers and in 2014 became the first female pundit on BBC’s Match Of The Day – has been recognised for her services to football and charity.

The 36-year-old has long used her platform to inspire change on a global scale. Aluko has worked heavily with charities such as Saving Lives, Charity Water and Common Goal.

Sherrock, 29, has been made an MBE for services to darts.

She made history in 2019 by becoming the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Championship, and this year became the first woman to throw a nine-dart finish at a PDC event.

Nelson, 56,  held the World Boxing Organisation cruiserweight title from 1999 to 2006, and remains the longest reigning cruiserweight world champion of all time.

Now a boxing pundit and a broadcaster, his award is for services to his sport and to young people in his home county of South Yorkshire.

Stanford, 34, who won the women’s world triathlon title in 2013 and finished fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics, retired from the sport last year.

Ayette Bounouri, who helped confront a mentally ill woman who attacked shoppers in a Co-op store in the village of Penygraig, Rhondda, South Wales, in May 2020, is to be recognised for her bravery.

She is set to receive the Queen’s Gallantry Medal, the last to be approved by the late Queen Elizabeth II.