Zakhi is a certified yoga teacher working with the association Yoga and Sport with Refugees, in Greece. He started joining yoga classes when he was on Lesvos in 2019 and then decided to follow the Yoga teacher training offered by the organization.
Story:
“In the first step since I started to do yoga it helped me to change so many things inside me which I’m so grateful, beside when I train with people in class and when I observe the peace inside them that makes so appreciative, it is important for me because through Yoga I’m getting to know more myself, I’m very thankful that I’ve learnt this skill through Yoga and Sport with Refugee NGO.”
Abhinav Bindra is an Indian Olympic champion specialising in shooting. After making history in India, including winning the country’s first individual gold medal, he also set up his own foundation.
“Having retired from professional shooting in 2016, I wanted to give back to the sporting community and do my bit to ensure everyone gets the opportunity to experience sport and all that it has to teach. It is what drove me to find the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, with the aim to build an ecosystem of excellence in the Indian sporting ecosystem and bring athletes, players at the grassroots, their stakeholders, and the general public together. The key pillars of our initiatives are Intervention (through high-performance training), Education, and Social Upliftment.”
Story:
“Sport has been and continues to be my greatest teacher. It has not only taught me how to win but also how to lose, thereby giving me the gifts of humility, acceptance, and self-reflection. It has been my greatest motivator, my greatest drive to work harder towards achieving excellence. Along the way, the sport has also provided me opportunities to form bonds with my teammates, coaches, and rivals.”
Misbah Volleyball Academy has been promoting sports and physical activities among girls in the area as well as in capital by organizing various training sessions and fitness camps with special focus on how to maintain healthy diet and healthy lifestyle in order to boost ones performance. We have started a volleyball academy named as (Misbah Volleyball Academy) for girls in Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan where we train girls of all age group and prepare them for the future competitions. We are working on different projects with different International NGOs who help us to promote sports in Pakistan and to promote gender equality in playing fields Our very first initiative was to create a volleyball academy for girls in the region. The purpose of developing a platform in the form of a volleyball academy was to provide an environment where young athletes can improve their game of volleyball and maximize their opportunities to play at both the competitive level, and at all levels and disciplines (as volleyball is a lifetime sport). The Academy program is geared toward physical, moral, linguistic and professional development of the youth in local, national and international sports. Players learn the important values of team spirit, sportsmanship, and hard work in the environment of competitive athletics. We encourage the development of skills for players to compete at a highest levels of volleyball they can achieve, and also focus on the physical and mental development of all players. We also utilize the athletic environment to teach life lessons that are applicable on and off the court, including (but not limited to) leadership, teamwork, work ethic, dealing with adversity, etc.
The yearly commemoration is marked by the world governing body of badminton, which joins other organisations from across the world. Now in its ninth year, the day honours sport’s good and constructive ideas, as well as its unique capacity to build a more peaceful and inclusive society.
Every year, through the #WhiteCard campaign, Peace and Sport mobilises the sports world as well as governments and civil society to celebrate the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.
BWF has empowered its athletes to join in the campaign over recent years.
Through 2022’s #WhiteCard campaign, each of us can use sport as an answer to peace and thus send a message of unity and global solidarity.
To participate, take a picture of yourself holding up a white card and share it on your social networks using the hashtag #WhiteCard tagging @peaceandsport.
BWF renewed its support and commitment to Peace and Sport in 2018, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the SportAccord Convention in Bangkok.
2022’s core message is: “Securing a Sustainable and Peaceful Future for All: The Contribution of Sport,” and promotes the use of sport as a tool to advance human rights and sustainable development. It seeks to highlight and draw attention to the stories of individuals and beneficiaries who have been positively impacted by sport all around the globe.
The Swiss Badminton will host a special ‘It’s Shuttle Time For Peace’ project starting on 7 April which open up free and regular badminton training for Ukrainian children who have fled their country due to the ongoing conflict. Over a period of two weeks, the training project aims to help up to 40% of Ukrainian refugees under 18-years-old that are now based in Switzerland.
Following training, Swiss Badminton will organise a ‘It’s Shuttle Time For Peace’ tournament on 30 April for those on the project, supporting the notion of using sport to positively impact those across the globe. We will bring you updates on the project when we can.
BWF Chair – Development & Sport For All Committee, David Cabello said: “April 6 is the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace and this is an activity that we tied in as a contribution from badminton.
“We wanted to continue the BWF CSR project this year as part of our April 6 activities but unfortunately, we have had to postpone that due to COVID-19.
“The Swiss Badminton has gone above and beyond to ensure the core message of using sport to secure a peaceful future for all. This echoes BWF’s values.
“Badminton provides a really simple introduction to sport, and because it can be played everywhere, indoors and outdoors, we see it as a great way to create opportunities for children, from all backgrounds.”
On display the five new Tokyo 2020 Olympic sports seen through the lens of young photographers under 35.
Over 100 photographers from 37 countries have participated in the 5th edition of this international contest.
The photographs of the finalists of the 5th edition of Run for Art, the international contest for young photographers under 35 that combines art and sport, conceived by the Giulio Onesti Foundation, reach the International Mugham Center in Baku, where they will be exhibited from 6 to 16 April. The exhibition, curated by the Olympian Novella Calligaris, a member of the executive board of the Onesti Foundation, is organized in partnership with the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, on its 30th anniversary and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Italy and Azerbaijan.
On display are 40 photographs on the subject “The five new Olympic sports. The contemporary challenge to ability and disability“. The photographs focus on the evolving concept of sport for the young generations as well as on the introduction of new sports trends at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (baseball and softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing), exploring also their Paralympic declinations.
As in a real sports competition, among the hundreds of participating photographs, only 40 were selected as finalists for the competition. To decree the winners, a jury of excellence chaired by Ivo Ferriani (IOC executive member and President of the IBSF – International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation) and that includes leading personalities from all fields involved: from art to sport, from institutions to the media.
The young talents the winners of the edition are: Tetsu Chih-Ching Lee (Taiwan), who with his picture tells the importance of softball in his country; Gökhan Taner (Turkey), who portrays the Japanese karateka Hikaru Ohno starting her performance; Max Dunlap (United States), who photographs Aaron Fotheringham, the most accomplished and renowned WCMX athlete, an adapted version of skateboarding, at Venice Beach during an event organized by the Life Rolls On Foundation; Julia Cassou (France), who captures a climber on a waterfall of tuff; Rhys Bates (Australia), who takes us inside the barrel on a tropical island in the Maldives together with surfer Nikolas Plytas.
The exhibition will be opened in the presence of Mrs. Claudia Giordani, a member of the executive board of the Giulio Onesti Foundation and Vice-President of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Mr. Claudio Taffuri, Ambassador of Italy to Baku, Mr. Chingiz Husseynzada, Vice-President of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan, and Mr. Anar Karimov, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan. A digital version of the exhibition, enriched with critical texts and classical music, directed by Lorenzo Porzio, orchestra director and Olympic bronze medalist in rowing, is available at runforart.com. The contest and the exhibition are supported by IOC Olympic Solidarity and the Istituto per il Credito Sportivo (ICS), a founding member of the Giulio Onesti Foundation.
The Giulio Onesti Foundation – Italian National Olympic Academy is a not-for-profit organization for the promotion of the culture and values of sport, whose activities address primarily young generations. The Foundation is named after Giulio Onesti, former President of the Italian National Olympic Committee (1946-1978), a key figure in sports history, both nationally and internationally.
*The jury includes: Azer Aliyev (Secretary-General of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan), Mariia Bulatova (Vice-president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine and member of the IOC Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission), Luciano Di Blasio (Junior Officer at Mission of Canada to the European Union), Pia Johnson (Lecturer and Program Manager of the Master of Photography at RMIT University Australia, photographer, and visual artist), Rafael Maranhao (Public Relations Senior Manager at IPC – International Paralympic Committee), Gianni Merlo (President of AIPS – International Sports Press Association), Gordwin Odhiambo (photojournalist and documentary photographer), Priscilla Rattazzi (world-famous photographer) and Conrad Yu (Photo manager of Sportsoho Magazine Hong Kong and sports photographer).
Mahdi Khawari was one of the K1 coaches of the association Yoga and Sport with Refugees, which works on the island of Lesvos, in Greece.
Mahdi spent about two years in the refugee camps of Lesvos, where he joined the association for a year to share his knowledge in the practice of K1 with other residents.
He is now living in Berlin where he continues to box regularly.
Story:
“When I work out, I get rid of the negative energy. Afterwards, even if there is fighting, drinking, drugs, or noise at the camp when I’m trying to sleep, my body is so relaxed.
This is my family. People come together to keep up their motivation and energy.
My team stays in touch even though they’ve left the island. We follow each other on Instagram and send pictures on Whatsapp. Wherever they go, they send pictures and ask how things are at the camp. We talk about how nice it would be to practice together. We’re friends for life.”
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