Buggyra ZM Racing’s Aliyyah and Yasmeen Koloc will become ambassadors for Peace and Sport after the Monaco-based organization nominated the Emirati twin sisters as the newest ambassador for their Junior Champions for Peace Club program.
Buggyra ZM Racing’s Aliyyah and Yasmeen Koloc will become ambassadors for the Monaco-based Peace and Sport organization after it was officially announced by Buggyra on 10 August that the Emirati twin sisters has been nominated to become part of Peace and Sport’s Junior Champions for Peace Club program.
“I am really honored to be nominated together with my sister as an ambassador for the Junior Champions for Peace Club,” says Aliyyah. “It is an important cause to us and we hope that, together with Peace and Sport, we will be able to spread more positivity and the message that no matter your color, race or gender, you can do sports or whatever you want to do, and you have a right to do it without suffering negative comments from anybody.”
The Koloc sisters will be following the footsteps of Lionel Messi, Didier Drogba, Novak Djokovic, Rudy Gobert, Lucas di Grassi, Felipe Massa, Loris Capirossi, and Sebastien Loeb, all of whom had been previously nominated by Peace and Sport to join their overall Champions for Peace program.
Junior Champions for Peace Club itself aims to provide a platform for young athletes to promote peace values in the sporting category that they participated in. The Koloc sisters and Buggyra themselves have been promoting equality, respect and diversity in motorsport through their Equality & Diversity Program this year.
The program, which was launched in April and was officially announced in May, aims to raise awareness on the matter after the Koloc sisters became the target of sexist and degrading remarks by a fellow competitor when they were participating as a supporting crew for Buggyra in the 2021 Dakar Rally.
“We have been a target of discrimination all our lives, and some particular bad comments at the Dakar Rally two years ago was the final straw. We didn’t want to keep quiet anymore but we also wanted to take action,” said Aliyyah on the matter.
“Coming from a very mixed cultural background – our mother is half Sudanese, half Seychellois, our dad is Czech with his family coming from Vanuatu – we have suffered abusive comments and discrimination from a very young age, not just in motorsports but also in tennis that we played before,” said Yasmeen on the abuse that they had received before.
“Eventually we decided to start speaking up for more equality, diversity and respect in motorsports, and any sports really. I also think that generally more can and should be done to improve respect and diversity in our sport. I am not just talking about the athletes, but also about the people in the background, because there are a lot of talented people there who don’t get recognized for what they do. We want to help change that.”
The Koloc sisters are currently busy preparing to participate in the 2023 Dakar Rally as the youngest female twin drivers to participate in the annual rally raid event. Yasmeen, who now focuses on the planned Dakar entry after her injury at Spa earlier this year, will be stepping back from her planned EuroNASCAR duties to take part in the FIA Middle East Cup for Cross-Country Bajas championship.
Aliyyah, on the other hand, will maintain her efforts in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series as the sole full-time female driver in the top EuroNASCAR PRO class and a leading Lady Trophy contender in the junior EuroNASCAR 2 class. She currently sits 26th and 17th in the ENPRO and EN2 standings respectively, having scored her maiden Top-10 finish in EN2 on the previous round at Vallelunga.
More on Buggyra’s Equality & Diversity Program can be checked on the link provided here.
Disclaimer: Unless noted on the photo, all photos used in this article are courtesy of Buggyra ZM Racing.
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