Malala to attend Olympics ceremony, meet athletes

ISLAMABAD: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has invited youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Pakistan Malala Yousafzai to meet the athletes and also act as guest of honour in one of the award-giving ceremonies during the Paris Olympics getting underway with the opening ceremony today (Friday).

Informed sources within the IOC have told ‘The News’ that leading names from across the globe usually get IOC invitations. Malala, the champion figure for human (women folk) rights struggle, was invited to be part of the ceremony.

The same sources confirmed that Malala has accepted the invitation to be part of the Olympics. “She has accepted the invitation to be part of the Paris Olympics where she would meet the athletes and also distribute medals among the winners of one of the disciplines,” ‘The News’ has learnt that there are good chances that she would turn up at the Olympic Village to meet the athletes including those from Pakistan.

Malala is expected to travel from the UK to France to grace the Olympics. “Her coming to the Olympics would be sort of motivation for athletes from around the globe, especially for women. Her interaction with athletes and officials from Pakistan will also be important.”

Meanwhile, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Rana Sanaullah and his family attended the Commonwealth Nations Ministerial Conference in France on Thursday where the matters of mutual sports interests were also discussed.

Besides the discussion on the future Commonwealth Games including the Youth Games, the matter of cities for upcoming games was also discussed. Though the outcome of the meeting is still awaited, it is believed that a few countries have shown interest in hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games following the one to be hosted by Australia in 2026.