Nominees announced for World Archery Awards 2015

The public nominated individuals for volunteer of the year, while member federations were invited to propose professionals for the coach of the year award, until 31 December 2015. The shortlists for all three awards were compiled by an internal panel, and the winner will be voted on by members of the World Archery Executive Board and other archery experts.

Winners of the World Archery Awards 2015 will be revealed – along with the athletes of the year – at the World Archery Gala in Las Vegas on Friday 29 January 2016. The ceremony will be broadast live on Archery TV.

Newcomer of the Year

Korean newcomer Kang Chae Young was nominated for her international debut performance at the first stage of the 2015 Archery World Cup in Shanghai, where she netted gold medals in the individual, mixed team and team events.

Seventeen-year-old Evelien Groeneveld won individual silver in the compound cadet women’s competition at the world youth championships in Yankton – then a team silver with the Dutch compound women at the worlds in Copenhagen. In his first season as a senior, Wifler represented the USA at the World Archery Championships in Copenhagen after winning the prestigious Vegas Shoot at the start of the year.

Coach of the Year

  • Ya Ping Shih 
  • Yang Changhoon 
  • Mads Krogshede 
  • David Ricardo Heber 
  • Ron van der Hoff 

Ya Ping Shih, Yang Changhoon and Ron van der Hoff were all nominated for their work with teams on the road to Rio qualification. As head coach of Australia, Ya Ping Shih led the nation’s recurve men’s team to a Rio 2016 berth, while Yang Changhoon fielded another successful Korean women’s squad.

Dutch head coach Ron van der Hoff brought the Netherlands its first recurve men’s team berth since 2004, when Ron – then an archer – now-Italy head coach Wietse van Alten and Pieter Custers reached the quarterfinals in Athens.

The personal coach of Sara Lopez, David Ricardo Heber has mentored the world number one to two consecutive Archery World Cup Final titles, while Mads Krogshede managed a Danish compound team through a home worlds, and saw Stephan Hansen win the world title.

Volunteer of the Year

  • Peter Suk 
  • Carole Hicks 
  • Luca Gallarate 
  • Jozef Bascuik 
  • Andrew Russell 
  • Freire Silva 

Both Peter Suk and Carole Hicks have dedicated their lives to the international development of archery. Peter has worked with national teams, across Africa and now assists a number of member federations, while Carole has overseen huge progress in para archery as chairperson of the World Archery Para Committee.

Luca Gallarate and Jozef Bascuik were nominated for their work on national events in Italy and international events in Poland, respectively, and Andrew Russell for his efforts on the Archery NZ coach training programme. Freire Silva was a volunteer at the Aquece Rio Test Event, will do the same at the Rio 2016 Games and is working to teach archery to schoolchildren in Brazil.