By Hend GadAllah 

Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, accompanied by Major General Adel Al-Ghadhban, Governor of Port Said, led a cycling marathon, with the participation of a group of young men and women, and the presence of several leaders of the ministry. The marathon started with a distance of 8 km in the Port Said tunnels area.

The Minister of Youth and Sports praised the Port Said tunnels project, which is one of the national development projects that the country is witnessing under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who is leading the country's development in various sectors. He indicated that the ministry implemented various events in these projects intending to introduce young people to what is happening on the ground of major projects and benefiting from the value of sport in marketing to cities and new projects.

Dr. Ashraf Sobhy pointed out the ministry's keenness to spread the culture of practicing sport within the community among youth and citizens, and to make sport a way of life in the implementation of one of the main axes of the ministry's strategy through events, marathons and sporting events that are carried out in all governorates of the republic periodically. He also emphasized the importance of sports in the life of the individual and its role in raising him in a positive way.

The Minister of Youth and Sports referred to the initiative "your bike ... your health" implemented by the ministry to provide bicycles for youth and citizens to buy at subsidized prices, and two phases of them have been implemented so far. Work is underway to launch a new phase that includes larger numbers of bicycles commensurate with the demands of young people. The President's sponsorship of the initiative is an affirmation of his clear interest in spreading the practice of sport in society, as sport contributes to improving the physical and health fitness of its users and is an economic means of transmission.

The minister added that the sports development axis is one of the main axes that the ministry targets in developing the sports sector. It includes developing the sports development agenda to include all society and implementing programs to improve the health pattern of citizens through sports practice.