Svetlana Vinnikova , gold medalist The World Games 2017 muaythai
Svetlana Vinnikova , gold medalist The World Games 2017

Thanks to great support from the global Muaythai commuity, Svetlana Vinnikova is now into the 2nd round of voting for the Athlete of the Year. Sitting in fourth position with the highest number of votes ever polled for a Muaythai athlete at this stage of the competition, she’s very excited to represent her sport.

 

Voting has been fast-paced this year, with The World Games office reporting that over 150,000 votes have been cast so far across all 25 sports.

In a statement TWG said: “Two years ago only 9,000 votes were cast at this point, and the leader and later the Athlete of the Year, Sofia Olofsson, had 2,470 votes. Now, the ones that just missed the final race despite great efforts have more than that number!” Read more from that analysis here.

And of course Sofia Olofsson from Sweden  – the ultimate winner in 2016  – is a Muaythai athlete. Her success is driving this year’s great effort from the Muaythai world for Svetlana.

Svetlana says:Hi everyone! I’d like to thank all of you for your support and votes. We step into the finals. I ask you to continue voting. Muaythai will be on top!”

Many top Muaythai athletes including Sofia have called publicly on their social media followers to vote for Svetlana. So far these include Artem Vakhitov from Russia, Masomeh Tajik from Iran, Nili Block from Israel, Oly Roland from Cote D’Ivoire, Myriame Dejidi from France, Yolanda Schmidt from Australia, Martine Michieletto from Italy and many more. You can find these call-outs on the IFMA social media also.

Today Svetlana has 11, 796 votes which is a fantastic achievement for this young athlete. A two-time world champion at 63.5kg and also gold medal winner at 60kg in The World Games 2017 for Russia, she is determined to do even better.

IFMA calls on the Muaythai community to keep supporting Svetlana, and vote online every day in January: VOTE HERE.

Follow Svetlana Vinnikova on Instagram to see her training regime in Moscow and in Thailand!  @svetlanni

Watch Svetlana Vinnikova’s Muaythai bouts on the IFMA Youtube Channel

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