Turkish athlete to be honored with fair play prize

The International Fair Play Committee (CIFP) has decided to award Turkish track and field athlete Elvan Abeylegesse, the committee said yesterday at a meeting in Bucharest, Romania. Last August during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Abeylegesse lent her spare track shoes to Ethiopian athlete Meselech Melkamu, who had forgotten her own pair in her hotel room. The CIFP also honored Sema Kasapoglu, a member of the Turkey's National Olympics Committee, for her role in a national campaign to encourage girls to get involved in sports. Abeylegesse and Kasapoglu are set to receive their prizes in a ceremony on March 27 in Budapest, Hungary .