CBC Sports' Shireen Ahmed awarded 2nd place in international sports column writing
CBC Sports's Senior Contributor Shireen Ahmed's column about France's ban on women wearing hijabs while playing sports won second place for column writing Tuesday at the AIPS Sports Media Awards in Morocco.
"How can France claim to champion women when it is stripping them away from sport in a move that is blatantly opposed to the IOC's own human rights framework?" Ahmed wrote in her piece, French hijab ban in sports called a 'shameful moment' as it prepares to host Olympics. It was published July 18, 2024, just days before the Paris Olympics opened.
Ahmed's column was one of more than 2,000 submissions from journalists in 136 countries in a variety of categories the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) recognized at their annual gala.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Athletes Unlimited Softball League opens with high hopes and support from MLB and USA Softball
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Athletes Unlimited Softball League made its debut after a year of buildup and a recent collaboration with Major League Baseball. The Bandits beat the Talons 3-1 in the first game Saturday in Rosemont, Illinois. The Volts were set to play the Blaze in Wichita, Kansas later in the day. 'I kind of feel like we blinked and it was here,' Cat Osterman, general manager of the Volts, said. 'But then there were moments where it felt like we weren't ever going to get here either because it took a whole year of process. We're all excited.' Athletes Unlimited has featured softball since 2020, when it unveiled a unique format that crowned an individual champion. The organization that focuses exclusively on women's sports now has launched a traditional four-team softball league in a traveling format. The Blaze, Volts, Bandits and Talons will play 24 games each, touring to 12 cities. The top two teams will compete in the best-of-three AUSL Championship from July 26-28 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. MLB said last month that it is making a strategic investment in the league. It will include an undisclosed amount for operational costs and a commitment to help it gain visibility. It will market the AUSL and its athletes during its All-Star Game, throughout the postseason and during broadcasts on the MLB Network and streams on USA Softball executive director Craig Cress likes the fact that a league with MLB's backing exists for players to join after their college careers. He sees it as an opportunity to keep the top American players facing elite competition so Team USA will be ready for Olympic softball that will be played in Oklahoma City in 2028. Japan has won the past two Olympic gold medals in the sport. Cress said he hopes the AUSL emerges as something comparable to Japan's well-established softball leagues. 'We have a great respect and a great rivalry,' Cress said of the history with Japan. 'But this Olympics on our home soil is our gold medal. We need to go get it. So from that standpoint, I know we've got a long way to go, but that's the end goal.' Cress said it was smart for Athletes Unlimited to add former MLB executive Kim Ng as commissioner and to seek out the league as a partner. He hopes the AUSL can catch fire the way the WNBA has the past two years with Caitlin Clark. 'The WNBA is now starting to really do some things with the star power they have coming in,' he said. 'But what got them to the point to be able to keep their athletes from going overseas to play? It was the involvement of the NBA.' There are indicators that this league could last longer than those that have come and gone over the years, starting with the well-structured support system, stability and the experience Athletes Unlimited had with the sport before launching this league. 'I think that one thing you hear about Athletes Unlimited from anybody that's been around it is we've done what we said we were going to do,' Athletes Unlimited co-founder Jon Patricof said. 'We've been around now for five years.' Bri Ellis, who was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year for Arkansas this season, played for the Talons on Saturday after being the No. 2 overall pick in the AUSL draft last month. She said she's thrilled about the timing of the league's rollout. 'It was kind of this relief that I don't have to be done now,' she said. 'I can keep going and keep playing and there's still a story to be written for me in my career, and so I'm just really grateful for everyone that's come before me and has worked their tails off to get the sport to where it is now.' ___ AP sports:
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Small sport stirs up controversy in Spain as Basque Country makes its international debut
MADRID (AP) — A small sport popular in Spain's northern Basque Country has stirred up a political controversy that triggered court action and fanned the region's long-held feelings of nationalism. There has been back-and-forth spats between sports officials and politicians after the Basque Country region was allowed to compete as a nation in international competitions in pelota vasca, a sport that was in the Olympics more than 100 years ago but is now rarely seen in most parts of the world.
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
O Canada: Finals matchup between Olympic teammates Gilgeous-Alexander and Nembhard getting attention
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The NBA Finals. East vs. West. Indiana vs. Oklahoma City. Canada vs. ... Canada? It sure seemed like it at times in Game 1 of the series, anyway — and odds are, there will be more of those moments throughout the rest of this matchup between the Pacers and Thunder. There are four Canadians in the series, and two of them — NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the Thunder and Andrew Nembhard for the Pacers — went head-to-head plenty in Game 1. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points; Nembhard scored eight of his 14 in the fourth and was on the floor for the entirety of Indiana's 32-16 run that ended the game and turned a 15-point deficit into a one-point win. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'He's a competitor. He's a winner,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'Plays the game the right way on both ends of the floor. Really good player. Yeah, he's a winner for sure. No doubt.' They have been playing alongside each other since they were kids and were teammates on Canada's national team at the Paris Olympics in 2024. And they saw plenty of each other on both ends of the floor in Game 1, plus weren't afraid to mix it up with a little extra push here or choice words there. Nothing over the line, but enough to remind the other that it's all business right now. 'Nothing more than two guys wanting to win,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'No malicious intent behind it, just wanting to win.' Oklahoma City's Lu Dort and Indiana's Bennedict Mathurin are the other two Canadians in the finals. The four Canadian players combined for 72 points in Game 1; that's the most ever in any finals game by players from any individual country other than the U.S. That smashed the previous mark for points from Canadians in a finals game; it was 34, all from Jamal Murray, for Denver in Game 3 against Miami in 2023. 'It's amazing for our country,' Nembhard said. It's not just Gilgeous-Alexander who has long-time familiarity with Nembhard. Thunder forward Chet Holmgren played with Nembhard at Gonzaga as well. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'Obviously, he's my guy, great dude,' Holmgren said. 'I have a lot of compliments for him as a basketball player and a person. But we're playing against him right now, so I'm going to hold on to all those.' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle knows the Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Nembhard matchup might be viewed by some as a game within the game. He said Nembhard 'loves the challenge' of matching wits with Gilgeous-Alexander. 'I mean, you don't stop players today,' Carlisle said. 'You try to make it hard. He played with Shai on the Olympic team and so they have familiarity. They are both from Canada and they both have played a lot with and against each other over the years. But this is the ultimate challenge, a guy like him who is the MVP.' ___ AP NBA:
