Saudi Arabia will enter women for London Olympics

Good News!!

Saudi Arabia will enter women athletes in the Olympics for the first time ever in London this summer, the Islamic kingdom's London embassy said on Sunday. Huraay!!

Human rights groups had called on the International Olympic Committee to bar Saudi Arabia from competing in London, citing its failure ever to send a woman athlete to a Games and its ban on sports in girls' state schools.

Members of the first female Saudi basketball team "Jeddah United" in  March 2012

Powerful Muslim clerics in the ultra-conservative state have repeatedly spoken out against the participation of girls and women in sports. In 2009 a senior cleric said girls risked losing their virginity by tearing their hymens if they took part in energetic sport. (Ok, and..??)

"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is looking forward to its complete participation in the London 2012 Olympic Games through the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, which will oversee the participation of women athletes who can qualify for the games," said a statement published on the embassy website.

In April the head of the kingdom's General Presidency of Youth Welfare, the body that regulates sports in Saudi Arabia, said it would not prevent women from competing but that they would not have official government endorsement.

The IOC said on Monday that talks with the Saudis were "ongoing" and that "we are working to ensure the participation of Saudi women at the Games in London".

The head of the kingdom's Olympic mission, Khalid al-Dakheel, however said he was unaware of any developments allowing women to participate.

Women wanting to take part in sports in the Gulf kingdom face an uphill struggle as they have to do so behind closed doors, like a group of 300 women who played basketball at an enclosed court in the city of Jeddah on the occasion of International Women's Day.