MAGHREBAN WOMEN & SPORTS : OLYMPIC CHAMPION EL MOUTAWAKEL AWARDED TUNUSIAN ORDER OF M

[HOUDA-K]

Moroccan Olympic champion, Nawal El Moutawakel, was awarded on Monday a sport honour by Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for her exceptional sporting performance and her role in promoting women in sports, reported MAP



At the end of the meeting with the Tunisian president, El Moutawakel, who is president of the IOC assessment committee, said she was honoured by the award, which is a credit for her as a Moroccan and Maghreban woman and which "reflects the friendly relations between Tunisia and Morocco."

The Moroccan athlete also said the honour showed the importance of the sports sector for President Ben Ali who declared 2005 a "year of sports and physical education" adopted by the UN.

She also voiced support to the Tunisian president who spares no effort to develop the sports sector in his country and in the Maghreb at large.

Nawal El Moutawakel who attended the Gammarth colloquium held on June 11-12 on "Maghreban Women and Sports", said in a press conference that hundreds, if not thousands, of young Maghreban women are taking part in sports, for women pioneers in the region have been defending their rights to sports.

El Moutawakel, went on to say she was impressed by the increase in the number of women who take part in Olympic games and other sporting events. She noted, however, that women were not represented enough in sport clubs and federations' administrative and decision-making bodies.

The Moroccan athlete said she was for an action plan to change things for the benefit of women. She stressed the need for gender equality, for women's participation in sports has been developing this sector.


El Moutawakel, had pleaded, on Sunday in Tunis, for granting woman access to all sporting activities as players and managers.

El Moutawakel said at a conference on "Maghreban Woman and Sports" that such meetings contributed to raising awareness of the need to promote the participation of women in the practice and the management of sports, at national and international levels.

She recalled women's prowess and the progress they had made in participating in physical activities and in the Olympic games, calling for women not to "rest on their laurels," but to struggle to attain their objectives and keep up the upward pace.

She said the path of women in sports was "unquestionably important", but there was still a lot to do. In this respect, she pleaded for the preparation of an action-plan to promote the training of women and follow up the implementations of the colloquium recommendations on Maghreban women.