Oscars for Bryant, Russian dope docu

Los Angeles: The sports field saw two special mentions at the 90th Oscar Awards on Sunday night.  In what is a first in the history of the Academy Awards, a sportsperson was awarded the golden statuette for the first time. Kobe Bryant, the former Los Angeles Lakers and NBA basketball superstar, won an Oscar for his animated short film, 'Dear Basketball'.

The award was presented by the cast members from 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'. In his acceptance speech, the 39-year-old said, "As basketball players, we're really supposed to shut up and dribble. I'm glad we can do a little bit more than that".

He thanked the Academy for this "amazing honour". In another first of the night, Netflix got a nod at the awards.

‘Icarus’, a sports documentary on the Russian doping scandal, won an Academy Award for best documentary. Directed by Bryan Fogel and produced by Dan Cogan, the film revolves around a major international doping scandal through Grigory Rodchenkov, who was also one of the whistleblowers about Russian athletes using performance-enhancing drugs.