Khetsuriani nominated for IPC’s Athlete of the Month

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has revealed the shortlist for December’s Allianz Athlete of the Month, including Georgian wheelchair fencer Irma Khetsuriani.

The public can now vote for the winner on www.paralympic.org.

The Worlds gold medallist won an incredible fifth final of the year in the women’s sabre category B at the World Cup in Kyoto, Japan. It was the second competition in the qualification process toward the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

The win for Khetsuriani led to a 100 per cent podium record for 2018. It followed victories in Eger, Hungary; Montreal, Canada; Warsaw, Poland and an important home victory in Tbilisi. It was her sixth World Cup medal of the year in the sabre following a bronze in Pisa, Italy.

Khetsuriani is building towards the defence of her world title in 2019 at the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championships in Cheongju, South Korea, from 17-23 September.

The other nominations are powerlifter Jhon Castaneda of Colombia; The Netherlands’ Diede de Groot (wheelchair tennis) ; Norway’s Vilde Nilsen (Nordic skiing) and Thailand’s Worawut Saengampa (boccia).

The public has until 12:00 (CEST) on Friday (18 January) to vote for the athlete they want to be the Allianz Athlete of the Month for December 2018 via the International Paralympic Committee homepage.

The nominations are compiled from submissions by National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) and International Federations (IFs).

The 2018 winners are:

January – Oksana Masters, USA, Nordic skiing

February – Mac Marcoux, CAN, alpine skiing

March (Best Male) – Brian McKeever, CAN, Nordic skiing

March (Best Female) – Ekaterina Rumyantseva, NPA, Nordic skiing

March (Best Team) – Chinese wheelchair curling team

April – Gemma Collis-McCann, GBR, wheelchair fencing

May – Sareh Javanmardi, IRI, shooting

June – Sevda Altunoluk, TUR, goalball

July – Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, IRI, sitting volleyball

August – Greg Polychronidis, GRE, boccia

September – Corne de Koning, NED, rowing

October – Women’s Japanese goalball team

November – Olena Chynka, UKR, Para dance sport