(MENAFN- Arab Times) The Saudi Olympic Committee has approved four female Saudi athletes to compete as part of the conservative Gulf kingdom's team at the Rio Olympics, a spokesman said. Sara Al-Attar, Lubna Al-Omair, Cariman Abu Al-Jadail and Wujud Fahmi will become only the second group of women Olympians to represent Saudi Arabia, where women are barred from driving and are subject to a restrictive male guardianship system. But the historic decision was complicated by the kingdom's thorny gender politics, as the official announcement of the Olympic team named only the seven men who will compete. The announcements of the names of the male and female team members were made separately given the sensitivities regarding gender segregation and women's athletics in Saudi Arabia, said Saudi Olympic Committee Chief Executive Hosam Alqurashi.
The four women will be given wildcard entries so they can compete without meeting formal qualification standards, a spokesman said. Saudia Arabia entered two women under a similar arrangement for the 2012 Olympics in London in what was a symbolic first for the oil-rich Islamic nation. Attar is a veteran of the London games, where she ran in the 800 metres. She will be joined in Rio by another runner, Abu Al-Jadail, who will run in the 100 metres. Omair will participate in fencing, while Fahmi will be in the under-52 kg judo event. Women in Saudi Arabia face significant hurdles to practice sport. They must wear head-to-toe garments in public, observe strict rules on gender segregation and obtain permission from a male guardian to travel, study or marry. Women's gyms are not currently eligible for licences, making them scarce in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia's recently announced package of economic reforms set out the licensing of women's "sports halls" as a goal to be achieved by 2020. Meanwhile, Evgeni Plushenko, Russia's two-time Olympic figure skating champion, angrily distanced himself from a damning report Monday that revealed rampant Russian state-run doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and other events. "I, Evgeni Plushenko, declare that I've never used any kind of doping, I've always competed fairly,"
TASS state news agency quoted him as saying. "At Sochi I gave samples for testing twice and there always was a man next to me who kept the procedure under control. And there has never been any additional medical interference, whatever anyone says." The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) called for Russia to be banned from the Rio Olympics next month and other international sport after an investigation found the FSB secret service helped a "state-dictated failsafe system" carried out by the Moscow sports ministry. The 33-year-old Plushenko, who has competed at four Olympics, accused Russia's rivals of attempting to besmirch the country, after its track and field team was already barred from Rio. "The Games in Sochi were the best in history and everybody knows that," he said. "I can say it with pride.
"I suppose the countries competing with Russia, who launched this campaign, are just nursing a grievance and are burning with envy because of that." Dmitry Svishchev, who heads the lower house of Russian parliament's sports and physical culture committee, said the investigation by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren for WADA was just more "unconfirmed fantasy". "We've already heard all of that and nothing new has been said," Svishchev told Match! TV channel
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.