Tehran, YJC. Ali Ayatollah Khamenei has met with a number of sports veterans and champions in different fields, saying “All must appreciate by heart those women who appear in international competitions with hijab, grace, and self-possession.”
Speaking to a number of Iranian sportsmen who have won
international medals, the Supreme Leader said "Sportsmen are like a mountain
top, they pave the way for the common movement of the people, especially the
young, towards the peak.”
He pointed to the fact that gaining high positions in sports
is impossible without hard work, determination, and intelligence and added that
champions are symbols of a nation’s capabilities, therefore boosting a people’s
national confidence.
"All must appreciate by heart those women who appear in
international competitions with hijab, grace, and self-possession,” asserted
Ayatollah Khamenei, addressing sportswomen as important to the country.
The Supreme Leader also appreciated the Iranian sportsmen’s
regard for religious teachings in their sports events and said "I sincerely
appreciate all the sportsmen who say the name of the Imams in their sports
events or prostrate or raise their hands and pray or say the Azan when they
have won; and also all the sportswomen who observe religious chastity.”
He related his thanks to the increasing presence of
spirituality in a world where the young are lead to sacrilege and said "Because
of this, sportsmen should know their value and try to preserve in themselves
heroic and sportsmanlike traits and a spiritual morale.”