RUGBY star Jaksa Lovreta has been named as the Marlow Sports Personality of the Year 2005 following a close vote at a town council meeting.

Mr Lovreta , 27, who is the captain of Marlow Rugby Club and the Croatian national team, won the accolade by a single vote from the four other nominations.

It was left to outgoing mayor, Cllr Doug Anson, to give the deciding vote at the Marlow Town Council meeting on Tuesday, April 26th, following a tie between Mr Lovreta and Graeme Paskins of Marlow Cricket Club.

Mr Lovreat said:"It is great. It is so good to be recognised for what we are doing in schools and everything.

"It is a big satisfaction. There are not many countries in the world who recognise your acheivements. It is something to be proud of for the rest of my life."

Mr Lovreta, who heralds from Makarska, a town south of Split, said that the news of his nomination for the award had already reached Croatian shores via the internet.

He said his father was shocked when he picked up a copy of a Croatian newspaper and read that Jaksa had been nominated for the sporting title.

Mr Lovreta said it was likely that the newspaper had found out about the nomination by reading the report on the Bucks Free Press website.

"It was unbelievable, " he said.

"My father is a big fan of everything I do, so when he saw it he called me."

Mike Lewis, administrator at the rugby club in Riverwoods Drive, , who nominated Mr Lovreta for the award, said it was well deserved.

He said: "He's extremely good with children and he believes in the old values of rugby you get out of what you put into the community.

"He's working hard on the international front as well as the local front."

Cllr Richard Scott pointed to Mr Lovreta's coaching at local schools as one of the reasons why he should win the accolade.

Mr Lovreta, who also captains the Buckinghamshire team, heads a school coaching programme for the rugby club and this week is staging a tournament for schools in Marlow.