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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday awarded former Argentine tennis star Gabriela Sabatini its 2006 "women in sport" prize for her work to promote tennis in Argentina.
Since she retired in 1996, Sabatini has quietly financed a programme for young players, women's tennis tournaments and free tennis clinics for young children out of her own pocket, the IOC said.
Sabatini, who was ranked world number three, said she was "giving back to sport something of the many things that sport gave to me".
Coinciding with International Women's Day, regional awards were also presented to five other figures for their role in encouraging and strengthening the participation of women in sports.
They include gymnastics chief Albertine Barbosa Andrade, the only woman head of a sports federation in Senegal, Canadian 1984 Olympic 400 m relay silver medallist Charmaine Crooks, "Ping Pong Queen" Elisa Lee, now a leading sports official in South Korea, French volleyball official Dominique Petit and Fiji's badminton secretary Lorraine Mar.
The trophy has been awarded annually since 2000 by the IOC's women's commission and its chair, Anita DeFrantz.
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AFP 081207 GMT 03 06
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