Itzhak Baranes

Itzhak Baranes is an Israeli lawn bowls player who competes in the blind classifications of the sport. He lost his sight in 1976 and took up lawn bowls in 1989. He has been Israeli national champion in classification B1 many times, in 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Baranes played in the International Blind Bowls Association World Championships of 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2009, winning three silver and two bronze medals, and in the International Paralympic Committee world championships between 1995 and 2015, taking medals in singles and mixed pairs. At the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics he won bronze in the lawn bowls men's singles LB6 event. The Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport named him Athlete of the Year in 2000, 2006 and 2008.