World and European judo champion Tato Grigalashvili won the prize for best male athlete of 2022 at the Georgian National Olympic Committee’s awards in Tbilisi, while Eter Liparteliani took the best female athlete honours.
Grigalashvili was crowned world champion in the men’s under-81 kilograms category for the first time at the World Championships in Tashkent, following on from a silver in Budapest the year prior.
He became European champion for the second time in Sofia earlier in the year, and also took gold at the World Judo Masters in Jerusalem.
Liparteliani won bronze at the European Championships in the women’s under-57kg category.
A special award for achievements in the Olympic Movement was given to legendary weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze, who has won back-to-back Olympic and six consecutive world titles.
The prize is named after the triple jumper Victor Saneev, who was born in Georgia and won three Olympic golds and one silver representing the Soviet Union.
Saneev died at the age of 76 in January 2022.
Figure skaters Karina Safina and Luka Berulava won the best athletes in winter sports prize after earning Georgia’s first gold at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in the pairs event.
The pair finished ninth in the pairs event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, where Berulava was Georgia’s flagbearer at the Closing Ceremony.
Twenty-one-year-old footballer Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who earned a move from Georgian outfit Dinamo Batumi to Italian giants Napoli, was named best young athlete among the other winners.
Source : Inside the Games
