World No.1 Nikolenko named March’s Allianz Athlete of the Month

The Ukrainian para-table tennis star was in great form at the first major tournament of the year winning two gold medals. 10 Apr 2015
Imagen
Maksym Nikolenko
ⒸITTF
By IPC

Ukraine’s world No.1 para-table tennis player Maksym Nikolenko has been voted the Allianz Athlete of the Month for March 2015 after winning two gold medals at the Lignano Masters.

At the first Factor 40 tournament of 2015, Nikolenko won the men’s singles class 7 with victory over compatriot Mykhaylo Popov. He then teamed up with Popov to claim a second gold in the men’s team class 7 event.

To win the poll, Nikolenko claimed 37 per cent of the public vote to finish ahead of Egyptian powerlifter Sherif Othman with 27 per cent in second. Othman broke the world record three times at March’s IPC Powerlifting World Cup in Dubai, UAE.

Also nominated in March’s poll were French alpine skier Marie Bochet (14 per cent), Dutch para-cyclist Alyda Norbruis (11 per cent), New Zealand alpine skier Corey Peters (9 per cent) and British swimmer Bethany Firth (2 per cent).

The previous winners from 2015 were:

January – Andrew Soule, USA, Nordic skiing

February – Chris Vos, the Netherlands, Snowboard