Tasnim - Iranian para-archer Zahra Nemati, who won the World Archery 2017 Athlete of the Year award in February, received her prize on Monday.


The online vote decided the best athlete from the recurve men, recurve women, compound men, compound women, Para-men and Para-women categories.

�I am very happy to win the award with the help of my country�s people. They have always inspired me. This prize belongs to my people because they helped me to win the award,� Nemati said.

She received her award from Reza Salehi Amiri, President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC), in Tehran's Olympic headquarters.

Stretton Jessica (GB), Gogel Jane Karla (Brazil), Tatiana Andrievskaia (Russia) and Jiamin Zhou (China) had been also nominated for the prestigious award.

Nemati claimed a gold medal at the 2017 World Archery Para Championships held in Beijing, China in September after beating Merve Nur Eroglu of Turkey, 6-2, in the final and finishing with a perfect 10-10-10.