World

Women’s Sports: Saudi Arabia to allow women’s sports clubs

Interior ministry had decided to allow women’s sports clubs after reviewing a study that showed flaws in the system.

Reuters March 30, 2013

a women 039 s sports club will be granted a license for the first time photo file

A women's sports club will be granted a license for the first time. PHOTO: FILE

RIYADH:

Saudi Arabia is to license women’s sports clubs for the first time, al-Watan daily reported, in a major step for an ultra-religious country where clerics have warned against female exercise.

Watan said the interior ministry had decided to allow women’s sports clubs after reviewing a study that showed flaws in the existing system. Last year the conservative Islamic kingdom sent women athletes to the Olympics for the first time after pressure from international rights groups.

In August two Saudi women, a judoka and a sprinter, became the first to compete for their country in the Olympics.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2013.