Madrid, Oct 30 (IANS/EFE): Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal's foundation has created a project that will help young athletes from his homeland obtain sports scholarships at US universities and provide financial assistance for those who would be unable to cover the full cost of higher education in that country.

The Study and Play project is in addition to four other sport and education programmes that the Rafa Nadal Foundation is carrying out for the benefit of disadvantaged youth in both Spain and India, EFE reported on Thursday, citing a foundation statement.

The project, which the foundation said it was implementing in collaboration with I-Con Sports, offers young Spaniards "the tools to obtain university scholarships" regardless of their sport, "taking into account academic as well as sporting performance".

The foundation said that thanks to the sponsorship of Spanish food supplement producer Drasanvi it would be able to provide financial assistance to athletes who only obtain a partial sports scholarship from a particular American university.

For its part, I-Con Sports will assist with obtaining and managing sports scholarships.

"At present, the US university system is the only one that facilitates university studies with elite level sport," the foundation said.

"We've chosen to implement this new program since it incorporates three of the main pillars of the Rafa Nadal Foundation: education, sports and youth," the foundation's president and the 14-time Grand Slam champion's mother, Ana Maria Parera, said.