16 February 2010 - Turkish Archer Nominated for 2010 Laureus World Sports Awards

Turkish Archer Nominated for 2010 Laureus World Sports Awards Bonn (GER) – 16 February 2010   The Laureus World Sports Academy has announced the six nominations for the World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability category for the Laureus World Sports Awards 2010:   -      Justin EVESON (AUS), Wheelchair Basketball -      Kurt FEARNLEY (AUS), Athletics -      Gizem GIRISMEN (TUR), Archery -      Shingo KUNIEDA (JPN), Wheelchair Tennis -      Michael TEUBER (GER), Cycling -      Natalie DU TOIT (RSA), Swimming   A specialist panel consisting of experienced representatives in the field of Paralympic Sport and the Paralympic Movement nominates six candidates for this category based on submissions from the IPC membership. The nominations from the specialist panel are submitted to the Laureus World Sports Academy, who then elects the award winner.   Laureus World Sports Academy Chairperson Edwin MOSES said: "This has been a great year for sport and the Academy are going to find it extremely difficult to decide who to vote for as winners. We have had some thrilling world championships this year and a host of terrific individual performances. I congratulate all the nominees and now we look forward to what should be a great Awards Ceremony."   The winner will be announced at the Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony on 10 March in Abu Dhabi.   The Laureus World Sports Awards, which will be given for the eleventh time this year, celebrate sporting excellence across all disciplines and all continents. Awards are bestowed in a range of categories, including World Sportsman and World Sportswoman of the Year, World Team of the Year, World Breakthrough of the Year, World Comeback of the Year, World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability and World Action Sportsperson of the Year.   The Turkish archer Gizem GIRISMEN (photo) was paralyzed following a traffic accident in 1992 at the age of 11. She continued on to complete her education with honours in business administration from Bilkent University in 2004. That same year, she was invited to an Archery competition where she became interested in practicing the Paralympic Sport. In 2007, GIRISMEN won first place at the Czech Republic International Archery Tournament and second place at the fourth European Disabled Archery Grand Prix in 2008. Her career highlight was a gold medal won at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. In 2009 GIRISMEN won a gold medal at the World Archery Para Championships in the category Recurve Bow Class W2 Women.       For more information, please visit the official website at www.laureus.com.   The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Edited by FITA Communication