As revealed last Wednesday The World Games 2025 gold medallist, Argentina’s Gisella Bonomi, has been shortlisted for the prestigious International World Games Association (IWGA) ‘The World Games Athlete of the Year 2025’ award – and you can help her win it.

See below on ‘How to Vote’

The World Games Athlete of the Year Award recognises exceptional athletes for their outstanding sporting performances and their contributions to the success and visibility of their sport. 

“It’s such an honour to be considered amongst these great The World Games athletes, and I’m also glad to see the colours of Argentina represented in racquetball too,” said Bonomi to IHF.info. “On a personal level, 2025 was the best year for me in every aspect of my life, but especially in my sporting career.

“The year was a result of all the hard work everyone connected with beach handball in Argentina has undertaken during many years of playing beach handball and all the previous work that installed our passion for this sport.

“I really enjoy beach handball so much,” she added. “Beside the thrill of competing, it challenges aspects of myself inside and outside the court that keep making me work to be a better person and I’m thankful for everything this sport has given me so far.”

“To make the next round of voting, or to even win the award, would mean more than just individual recognition and success - it is representative of the exponential growth of our sport,” added Bonomi, who also took silver in the finals of the 2025 IHF Beach Handball Global Tour.

“The beach handball community and I really hope we can reach that goal in order to continue showing people what our sport is all about.”

How to vote

The voting period for this prestigious award opens today (12 January 2026) at 12:00 GMT.

1. Visit HERE

2. Go to the picture of Gisella Bonomi / Beach Handball picture.

3. Click on ‘Vote’ – Gisella will receive two votes.

4. Choose a second candidate and click ‘Vote’ – they will receive one vote.

You must vote for TWO candidates each time. Two votes go to your first-choice candidate (Gisella Bonomi), and one vote to your second choice. If you try to give votes to one candidate only, the votes will not be registered. This is to bring The World Games family closer together by introducing athletes to more than just their ‘own’ fans.

5. Follow steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 once every day (you can vote once every 24 hours) for the next two weeks.

6. Each time you vote, share that you have on your social media channels using the hashtag #beachhandball and tell all your friends to vote for Gisella.

On Monday 26 January at 12:00 GMT (13:00 CET). The top 10 athletes with the most votes will go through to the final stage of voting, with all 10 starting the process again on zero votes. This process will continue up until Monday 2 February, with those athletes finishing in the top three receiving a trophy, a valuable prize, and extensive promotional support.

IHF.info will update ahead of the first deadline to see if Gisella has made it through.

Good luck Gisella!

Note: Vote tallies will be displayed in real time throughout the campaign. All voters must adhere to the principles of fair play in sport. The IWGA will closely monitor the voting process, and any irregularities will be investigated. Actions contrary to the spirit of sport may result in appropriate measures.

About the International World Games Association, The World Games and Beach Handball

The International World Games Association (IWGA) is a non-profit-making international sports organisation recognised and supported by the International Olympic Committee.

The IWGA comprises 40 International Member Sports Federations. It administers and promotes The World Games (TWG), a multi-sport event held every four years that features around 35 sports on its programme.

Beach Handball has been part of The World Games since it was introduced as a demonstration/invitational sport in Japan in 2001. It then followed in Germany (2005) and Chinese Taipei (2009), before becoming a full sport at the 2013 edition in Colombia and then continuing in Poland (2017), USA (2022) and People’s Republic of China (2025).

The next event is scheduled for 2029 in Karlsruhe, Germany https://www.theworldgames.org/editions/Karlsruhe-GER-2029-17 with 4,000 world-class athletes from more than 110 countries and regions expected to compete in about 35 sports, including beach handball.

For more information, visit www.theworldgames.org.