The manacorí tennis player Rafael Nadal received yesterday, of hands of His Height Real Prince de Asturias, the prize Don Felipe de Borbón of the Premions National of Deporte 2006 and that every year grants the Council Superior of Deportes.
Nadal and the prize Queen Sofía, Laia Sanz Pla-Giribert, received the decoration yesterday in the Real Palace, an act presided over by SS.MM. the Kings, accompanied by minister by Education and Ciencia, Mercedes Goatherd, and the Secretary of State for Deporte, Jaime Lissavetzky.
Rafa Nadal has obtained this distinction in recognition to the Spanish sportsman who has distinguished itself more during the year in his sport performance, as much to national level as international.
Among other merits, Nadal obtained in 2006 five titles of the circuit of the ATP, one of them the one of Roland Garros and the record of consecutive triumphs, then 62 and now extended up to, on 81 earth beaten, in addition to the semifinals of the Glass Masters de Shangai or the four victories before number one of the world, the Swiss Roger Federer.
In his speech, the King wanted to give him his ?warmer congratulation to each person, equipment and awarded institution?. ?Each one represents an example and a stimulus for Spain and its values and virtues. The motociclismo, the basketball and tennis have filled of joy and emotion to us by their sport conquests and their institutional aids?, expressed the monarch.