Zvonareva named UNESCO Gender Equality Ambassador

PARIS - Russia’s Vera Zvonareva has been named a ‘Promoter of Gender Equality’ by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Zvonareva, 24, is ranked number six on Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) charts and has been appointed to call attention to gender equality issues at the national and global levels.

Zvonareva, who will take part in women’s leadership programmes through the UNESCO-Sony Ericsson WTA Tour partnership, has joined Venus Williams, Tatiana Golovin, Zheng Jie as well as Tour founder Billie Jean King as the fifth United Nations ambassador.

‘I am truly honoured to be serving as a Promoter of Gender Equality, especially being the first one from Russia,’ Zvonareva told WTA website Wednesday.

‘I think the UNESCO-Sony Ericsson WTA Tour partnership is incredibly important and this is a role that I value highly. I will work extremely hard to help young girls and women all around the world to gain better opportunities to succeed in whatever they do.’

Zvonareva, a winner of nine singles and five doubles titles on women’s circuit, had a successful 2008 which firmly established her in the top-10 rankings.

The Russian has a keen interest in education and international leadership and has enrolled in the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2007, where she is studying for a post-graduate diploma in International Relations and Economics.