Best Georgian athletes of 2018 revealed

Georgian weightlifter, winner of the world and European championship, Lasha Talakhadze has been named as the athlete of the year by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport last night at an award ceremony held at Rustaveli Theatre.

Weightlifter Rezi Davitadze was named the youngest athlete of the year.

Nino Odzelashvili, winner of the world and Europe championship in Sambo, won the title of the best female athlete of 2018.

Irma Khetsuriani, Georgian wheelchair fencer has been named the best paralympic female athlete of 2018 – she has won the Wheelchair Fencing World Cup five times.

Zviad Gogochuri won the title of paralympic male athlete. He is the winner of the world cup in Para Judo.  

The best sportsman in non-olympic sports is Levan Saginashvili, winner of the world and European armwrestling championship.

Eliso Bedoshvili, an international category referee in artistic gymnastics, has been named the best referee of 2018.

The title of the best coach of the year was won by Giorgi Asanidze, former weightlifter and the coach of Georgia’s national weightlifting team.

The award for the Recognition of 2018 was won by the Georgian Wrestling Federation – Georgian wrestling was included on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO this year.