IOC urges Saudi to end girls’ sports ban at earliest

geneva — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Sunday urged the Saudi government to push forward with moves to lift a ban on sports in girls’ state schools.

The kingdom’s consultative Shura Council last week recommended an end to the ban, which was relaxed in private schools last year, state media reported.

“We welcome this development and look forward to approval by the Education Ministry,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said in a statement.

The ministry must officially lift the ban as the council is influential, but only advisory.

Adams noted that International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach had raised women’s involvement in sport when he visited Saudi Arabia.

“On the International Olympic Committee President’s visit to Saudi Arabia last week the National Olympic Committee outlined plans to increase women’s participation in sport in the kingdom at university level, which we fully support,” Adams said.

“And following participation by female athletes from Saudi Arabia at the Olympic Games in London and the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore this would be a further step towards full participation by girls and women at all levels of sport in the country,” the IOC spokesman added.

The kingdom bowed to international pressure and sent its first ever female participants to an Olympics at the 2012 London Games.

The IOC agreed to allow the two Saudi women — a judo player and a middle-distance runner — to compete with their heads and bodies covered in deference to the Islamic dress code enforced at home. —