The Sport Australia Hall of Fame has named seven sporting figures as its 2026 Inductees in Melbourne, with the class to be honoured at a gala at the MCG on November 24.
Tennis champion Dylan Alcott, four-time Cricket World Cup winner Lisa Sthalekar, basketball coach Sandy Brondello, freestyle skier Dale Begg-Smith, surf lifesaver Shannon Eckstein, softballer Natalie Ward and hockey figure Barry Dancer make up the group, according to the announcement published on the Commonwealth Games Australia website.
Six of the seven, Alcott, Begg-Smith, Sthalekar, Eckstein, Ward and Brondello, are being inducted as athlete members. Dancer joins as a general member, recognised for coaching the Kookaburras hockey team to their only Olympic gold medal.
Sthalekar's induction follows a playing career in which she became the first woman to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets in one-day internationals. She also won 14 Women's National Cricket League titles with the NSW Breakers, five of them as captain.
Sthalekar now serves as president of the World Cricketers' Association and sits on the board of the Australian Cricketers' Association.
Ward's induction recognises a softball career that delivered four Olympic medals, while Alcott's selection as an athlete member was confirmed by Sport Australia Hall of Fame chair Steve Hooker and selection committee chair Malcolm Page.
The 2026 class follows last year's induction of two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt and former Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, the most capped player in the national team's history, at a ceremony the Hall of Fame has described as the country's most prestigious sporting honour.
This year's gala also marks the first Induction and Awards ceremony at the Hall of Fame's new permanent home at the MCG, after the event moved venues ahead of the November 24 date.