Athletes showcase Iranian-Islamic identity

TEHRAN, Mar. 15 (MNA) – Iran’s President Rouhani said the country’s athletes demonstrate Iranian-Islamic identities in sport arenas. President Hassan Rouhani made the remarks at a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday morning to pay tribute to Iranian champions and medalists. “Sports are based on the needs of human soul and body for health and vitality,” noted Rouhani adding “the Islamic culture has also ordered reinforcement of the spirit of vitality in the society.” The President deemed sport as the best way to round off the leisure time of the youth keeping them away from social damages; “sport remains a valuable social activity bringing about very important and beneficial effects for society.” Rouhani emphasized the need for providing equal access for women to the country's sports facilities urging the country’s sports officials to develop sports spaces suitable for women, especially in disadvantaged areas. The official stressed the need for professional sports activities saying “national honors enjoy an extremely important status in social, political and international areas since they go beyond ethnicity, team, club, party and faction.” Rouhani evaluated sport as a factor of national unity adding “we should seek to attend international competitions since they reveal strengths and weaknesses enabling us to make proper planning to promote the status of the county in sports.” “Similarly, we can achieve targets in political negotiations only by participating in international political arenas,” stressed Hassan Rouhani maintaining “success in nuclear talks and reaching win-win results also marked a sign of national pride.” The President pointed to the successes achieved in the negotiations as well as the agreement on the nuclear issue including the lifting of sanctions on various areas like banking relations, insurance, oil sales as well as purchasing goods and parts; “we will be proud of the current Iranian year for ever.” Referring to the situation arisen in the economy of neighboring countries as a result of lower oil prices and devaluation of national currency compared to the global units, Rouhani commented “we were able to keep the process of reducing inflation in the country which marked the competitiveness of our economy with the economies of oil-producing countries in the world.” He also deemed the massive participation of people in Iran’s 2016 elections as yet another achievement of the government appreciating all athletes and medalists who encouraged the nation to create the huge turnout. “Even during the war against Iraq, Iranian Athletes played an active role carrying out valuable by sacrificing their lives to save the country,” he continued. The President further outlined women athletes’ Hijab in international arenas as another sign of national honor and pride confirming “the country’s sport history has always been associated morality, humbleness, magnanimity as well as generosity.” Rouhani stressed the need for privatization in sport as well as entrusting the work to the experts in the field in order to achieve further success promising that the government will carry out any attempt that may be necessary for the development of sport in the country. The ceremony was held to celebrate those Iranian sports men and women who won titles and medals during the past Iranian year (ended March 20, 2014). Several high-ranking officials including Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mahmoud Goudarzi and the special aide to President Rouhani, Hossein Fereydoun, are also attended the event.