KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards will be held in Kuala Lumpur on March 26 instead of Rio de Janeiro, said Awards chairman Edwin Moses on Wednesday.

The announcement of the new venue for the 15th edition of the awards, also dubbed the Oscars of sports, was made less than a month after the organizers ended contacting with Rio due to financial constraints.

Moses said he was delighted to see the 2014 Awards to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which was the first time for the event to be staged in Southeast Asia.

Malaysia's Minister of Tourism and Culture Mohd Nazri expressed his confidence that Kuala Lumpur was the perfect host for the sporting event.

The globally televised awards ceremony celebrates the achievements of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen each year.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Britain's Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis received the biggest individual prizes in the 2013 event staged in Rio.