Tokyo Paralympic champ named Polish para-athlete of the year

Róża Kozakowska, who won gold and silver medals at the Tokyo Paralympics, has been voted Poland’s Para-Athlete of the Year in an annual event held by the Polish Paralympic Committee. 

Poland's Para-Athlete of the Year 2021, Róża Kozakowska.

PAP/Piotr Nowak

The 32-year-old received the prestigious Ludwig Guttmann Prize after winning the vote ahead of Olympic and Paralympic table tennis player Natalia Partyka, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency has reported.

Kozakowska triumphed at the Tokyo Paralympics in the women's F32 club throw before scooping silver in the F32 shot put.

In other categories, the European Para-Athletics Championships, held in the northern Polish city of Bydgoszcz, were voted the best event of 2021, while Paralympic table tennis coach Andrzej Ochal was named Coach of the Year on the eve of International Day of People with Disabilities. 

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, paralympic.org.pl

Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland's Elżbieta Krajewska.