Ilya Ilyn and Alexey Ni topped the poll in Kazakhstan
Olympic Champion Ilya Ilyn (23), the gold medallist of the 2011 IWF World Championships Paris, France topped the “Best Athlete of Kazakhstan” poll with the most points. (50 journalists of the Kazakh Sport Journalists Association voted.) Following his victories in Doha 2005 and Santo Domingo 2006 Ilyn won his third World Championships on lighter bodyweight in Paris (94 kg).
However he was already positioned number one in 2010 Asian Games there was almost nobody who believed he was able to return on the World Championships podium with an unbeatable performance. After his victory over Artem Ivanov (UKR) and collecting his third World Championships title the Head of Kyzylorda Region (his birth place) provided him 15.000 USD per month salary until the London Olympic Games. They want him to focus only on weightlifting.
Alexey Ni (51) received the “Top Kazakh Coach of 2011” award.
