Spanish sport club accused of sexism for awarding female winners vibrators

A Spanish squash club has been accused of sexism after awarding female athletes 'prizes' of vibrators, hair removal wax and foot files at a recent tournament.

The winning female players at the Asturias championship were outraged by the offensive prizes they were given with their winning trophies, noting that the male winners did not receive similar gifts.

Elisabet Sado, who won the tournament, was "shocked" when she was awarded a vibrator for coming in first place, telling BBC: "We think it's very sexist."

She and the other placing female competitors, who received hair removal wax and foot files as their 'prizes', wrote to the local squash federation to complain about the incident, sending the prizes along as evidence.

"We wanted to explain it to everybody because we think... there's a lot of discrimination... [against women in sport] and things have to change," Sado said.

Though she admits Squash Oviedo, the club that organised the event, likely intended the prizes to be "funny or different", they missed the mark.

The local federation Sado and the other female player appealed to looked into the incident and immediately took action, insisting they were unaware that the Oviedo club had planned to give the inappropriate prizes.

Maribel Toyos, a spokesman for the Asturias Squash Federation, called the incident "the height of sexism."

The Oviedo club officials have since apologised for the prizes, saying in a statement that they "understand the reaction and deeply regret this unacceptable incident."

Three officials, including club president Nacho Manzano, have since stepped down from their roles after admitting the prizes should never have been given out.

Sado has since said that she and the other women are glad they spoke up, as there needs to be better handling of sexism against women in sport, especially in Spain.