​President of the Government receives the Spanish women's water polo team

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

Mariano Rajoy highlighted the great effort of these sportswomen, which has led to them winning Olympic silver medal in London 2012, being crowned as world champions in 2013 and as European champions in July of this year.

The President of the Government highlighted that "this is even more remarkable, as surprisingly there are only 600 federated woman water polo players in Spain" and he announced that the Government is to seek new means to foster female participation in all areas of sport.

He continued by saying that advertisers should be encouraged to sponsor sports teams as this is very positive for society as a whole and for the companies involved.

Mariano Rajoy pointed out that as in all serious things in life, sport calls for hard work, effort, sacrifice, dedication, solidarity and team spirit. "The factors necessary in sport should be applied to all walks of life", he added.

In his speech, the President of the Government, went on to congratulate the managers, trainers and swimmers of the Spanish national squad, on winning 13 medals at the European Championships held recently in Berlin.