Zahra Nemati named November’s Allianz Athlete of the Month

Iranian archer Zahra Nemati has been named the Allianz Athlete of the Month for November after her performance at the Asian Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

The London 2012 Paralympic champion collected a quota place for her country for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games after winning the recurve women’s open competition at the Bangkok 2015 Asian Para Championships. Additionally, she had qualified an Olympic spot for Iran at the able-bodied Asian Championships preceding the para-event.

Nemati collected 84 per cent of the votes. German alpine skier Anna-Lena Forster came in second in the poll with seven per cent. Ukrainian judoka Inna Cherniak came in third (four per cent); followed by Ukrainian powerlifter Mariana Shevchuk (three per cent); the Filipino wheelchair dancing duo of Rhea Marquez and Jun Julius Obero (two per cent); and USA’s wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden (one per cent), respectively.

The previous winners from 2015 were:

January – Andrew Soule, USA, Nordic skiing

February – Chris Vos, the Netherlands, snowboard

March – Maksym Nikolenko, Ukraine, table tennis

April – Nigel Murray, Great Britain, boccia

May – Martina Caironi, Italy, athletics

June – Eduard Ramonov, Russia, football 7-a-side

July – Siamand Rahman, Iran, powerlifting

August – Trevor Hirschfield, Canada, wheelchair rugby

September – Moran Samuel, Israel, rowing

October – Beatrice Vio, Italy, wheelchair fencing