Pezaro became a star in Beijing when she won a superb three silver medals in the pool.
By JEREMY LASTinbal pezaro 224 88(photo credit: AP)
Paralympic swimmer Inbal Pezaro has stormed ahead in the reader poll for The Jerusalem Post's annual Israeli Sports Personality of the Year award.
By late Thursday night Pezaro, who became a star in Beijing this past September when she won a superb three silver medals in the pool, attracted a whopping 51 percent of the vote with some 500 people having registered their choice so far.
Former Chelsea manager Avraham Grant has been Pezaro's closest challenger, but at press time was still way off the pace with just under 20%.
The Israeli soccer legend took his team to second place in the European Champions League in May but has been out of work since.
Doubles specialist Andy Ram is currently in third position with 14%.
These are, however, only preliminary results and readers still have till next Thursday night to make their vote count, either by e-mailing sports@jpost.com or voting on-line at the sports section of jpost.com.
Windsurfer Shahar Zubari, who won Israel's sole medal at this summer's Olympic games in Beijing, KRC Genk striker Elyaniv Barda and Hapoel Holon coach Miki Dorsman are the other three nominated sports personalities.
Last year the award was won by tennis player Shahar Pe'er.
The winner of the 2008 award will be announced in the December 26 issue of the paper along with the other winners of The Jerusalem Post's 2008 Sports Awards, including Team of the Year, Young Sports Personality of the Year and Foreign Sports Personality of the Year, which will all be chosen by the Post's sports staff.
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