The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday awarded the 2019 Women and Sport trophies to six winners for their remarkable contributions to realizing gender equality in sports at the UN headquarters in New York.

The six trophies were five Continental Trophies and one World Trophy. International baseball umpire Po Chun Liu from Chinese Taipei received the World Trophy for her work in encouraging women to participate in baseball and softball as well as eliminating sex discrimination in sports. Liu made Forbes' 2018 list of the “Most Powerful Women in International Sports.”

Djatougbe “Nathalie” Noameshie from Togo won the Africa Trophy. Noameshie started as Togo's national athlete, became the first fully qualified female international volleyball referee in Africa and now works as vice-president of the Togo National Olympic Committee (NOC). Her goal was to improve female participation in sports at all levels in Togo.

Comisión Mujer y deporte de Costa Rica (Costa Rican NOC's Women and Sport Commission) received the Americas Trophy. The commission spent 10 years promoting the integration of women in sports and increasing their participation via various ways. It also lobbied for establishing legal frameworks that recognize gender-based social issues and offer aid to females.

Saada Al-Ismaili from Oman was awarded the Asia Trophy. As a leading activist for women's sport in the Gulf region and the Arab world, Al-Ismaili was both the designer and implementer of multiple plans and programs for helping local girls and women attend sports.

Morana Palikovic Gruden from Croatia won the Europe Trophy. As an experienced sport official and a leading figure of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Gender Equality in Sport Commission, Gruden focused on ensuring that more women can get managerial positions at sport associations in Europe.

Vanuatu Volleyball Federation received the Oceania Trophy. The organization not only helped more female to participate in sports at both grassroots and elite levels, but also used the power of sport in advancing social change and encouraging active living for women.

"The Women and Sport Awards are very important because these personalities we are honoring have shown what can be achieved by empowering women and girls through sport. The awardees bring about change not only on the field of play, but also in the workplace, at home, in schools and in other areas of society. Supporting such champions for women's empowerment is essential in our overall commitment to gender equality," said the IOC president Thomas Back.