.Sep 17, 2024, 09:18 PM ETWASHINGTON-- Billie Jean King are going to come to be the very first personal girls's professional athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jacket introduced Tuesday that their bipartisan regulation had actually passed your home of Panels and also would be actually sent out to Head of state Joe Biden for his signature.The costs to recognize Master, the ping pong Hall of Famer and activist, had actually currently passed unanimously in the Senate.Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a claim that Master's "life-time of campaigning for and also effort transformed the yard for ladies as well as ladies on the courthouse, in the class, and the work environment." The expense was actually presented in September 2023 on the 50th anniversary of King's victory over Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes," still the most-watched tennis suit of all time. The award, granted by Congress for prominent accomplishments and also contributions to culture, has recently been actually provided professional athletes, consisting of baseball players Jackie Robinson and also Roberto Clemente and golf enthusiasts Port Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and also Arnold Palmer.King had currently been actually granted the Presidential Award of Liberty in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican politician, states she possesses "faulty barricades, led uncharted pathways, and also encouraged plenty of people to stand up happily with nerve and also sentiment in the defend what is right.".