Saudi Arabia threatens to quit Olympics

July 27, 2012

London, July 27: Saudi Arabia has threatened to withdraw from the Olympics unless a female judo athlete was allowed to wear her headscarf in competition, The Telegraph reported Friday.

 

The Saudis said the women could compete only if they were allowed to wear appropriate Muslim clothing.

 

On Thursday night the International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer said Wujdan Shahrkhani could not fight with a headscarf.

 

He said the decision was a result of safety concerns and also "according to the principles and spirit of judo".

 

Judo spokesman Nicolas Messner said the hijab could be dangerous because the sport involved strangleholds and chokeholds.

However, judo federations in Asia have allowed Muslim women to wear hijabs.

 

hijab

 

 

Saudi judo fighter banned from wearing hijab

 

London, July 27: Saudi judoka Wojdan Shaherkani was on Thursday banned from wearing the hijab head scarf when she is fighting at the Olympic Games.

 

The 18-year-old heavyweight, part of a two-woman team sent from the conservative kingdom to an Olympics for the first time, was ordered by International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer to step onto the mat with her head uncovered.

 

"The Saudi Arabian athlete will take part in judo and she will fight according to the principle and spirit of judo, so without a hijab," said Vizer following the draw.

 

Judo applies strict safety rules and any covering on the head is deemed to present a risk to the fighter's health. Shaherkani is due to take part in the women's judo competition on August 3.

 

Saudi Arabia only agreed to send a women's team to London on condition that their two athletes respect a strict dress code.

 

The country's most senior sports official Prince Nawaf bin Faisal had told local daily Al-Jazirah the two athletes would be allowed to compete as long as they will be "wearing suitable clothing that complies with sharia."

 

Additionally he added other stipulations that: "the athlete's guardian agrees and attends with her," and "there must also be no mixing with men during the Games".

 

Men and women share the judo training venue, warm-up area in the competition hall and fight side-by-side on the various mat areas inside the competition arena.

 

American-raised 800m runner Sarah Attar is the second woman in the Saudi squad in London.

 

She has spent little time in the Islamic kingdom and grew up mostly in California, where she took up cross country running.

 

Attar appears without a headscarf in her official London 2012 photo.

 

For Shaherkani her participation is also contentious on other safety grounds as she has only been involved in the sport for two years and is not even a black belt.

 

That means she very likely is nowhere near the level of the international fighters she will be coming up against. She will fight Puerto Rico's Melissa Mojica, ranked 13 in the world, in the first round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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News Network
February 29,2020

Feb 29: India were all out for 242 in their first innings following a stunning battling collapse, triggered by paceman Kyle Jamieson on the opening day of the second cricket Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval, here on Saturday.

India were steady at 194 for five at tea but lost wickets in quick succession after the play resumed. Jamieson returned figures of 14-3-45-5.

Hanuma Vihari top-scored for India with his combative 55 while Prithvi Shaw (54) and Cheteshwar Pujara (54) hit contrasting half-centuries.

Virat Kohli's (3) poor run continued while his deputy Ajikya Rahane (7) also fell cheaply.

India lost last five wickets for 48 runs, of which 26 were contributed by last-wicket pair of Mohammed Shami (16) and Jasprit Bumrah (10).

Brief Scores:

India 1st innings: 242 all out in 63 overs. (H Vihari 55, P Shaw 54, C Pujara 54 batting; Kyle Jamieson 5/45, Tim Southee 2/38, ).

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News Network
June 9,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 9: Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has said that Virat Kohli understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come through success in the longest format of the game.

Dravid, popularly known as 'The Wall', also said that Test batsmanship has become exciting to watch now as batters play aggressive shots more often.

"I actually believe Test batsmanship has become more exciting than before, the aggressive element of Test batsmanship is going forward, players are playing shots and it is good to see, a good thing for India is Virat Kohli really values Test cricket, he understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come from his success in Test cricket," Dravid told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

He also said that defensive batting in cricket is not irrelevant, but added that players can have successful careers without having a good defensive technique.

"I don't think it is becoming irrelevant, maybe the value of defensive batting is not the same as it was a generation ago, it can never become irrelevant, I think you still need to defend your wicket if you want to score suns, I feel now you can survive without a good defensive technique in cricket," Dravid said.

"Today, you do not need to have a good Test career to have a successful career, look at the best players in the world today, a lot of them have a good defensive technique and they can play out difficult periods of the game," he added.

The 47-year-old Dravid also said that all young players want to represent their country in all three formats during their initial days, but eventually, they become realistic as time passes by.

"I would say in my interaction with the younger players, everyone's hero is someone who has succeeded in all formats of the game. I think all players start off wanting to play all formats, but then guys get a little realistic about their careers, superstars of the game will still want to play to all formats of the game," Dravid said.

Dravid is the only player in the history of cricket to be involved in two 300-plus ODI partnerships.

He played 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and one T20I for India. Dravid had announced his retirement from international cricket in March 2012.

He finished his career with 48 international centuries.

He has also coached the Indian junior sides (India U-19 and India A) and he is now the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Dravid has also led the side during his playing days and under his leadership, the side had managed to register their first Test series win in England.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Kuala Lampur, Jan 9: Saina Nehwal and reigning world champion P V Sindhu produced dominating performances to progress to the women's singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Sixth seed Sindhu notched up a commanding 21-10 21-15 victory over Japan's Aya Ohori in a pre-quarterfinal match lasting just 34 minutes. It was Sindhu's ninth successive win over Ohori.

The 24-year-old Indian, who won the World Championships in Basel last year, will take on world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals after the Chinese Taipei shuttler got the better of South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun 21-18 16-21 21-10.

Saina, who had won the Indonesia Masters last year before going through a rough patch, dispatched eight seed An Se Young of South Korea 25-23 21-12 after a thrilling 39-minute contest to make the last eight.

This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will next take on Olympic champion Carolina Marin.

Saina had defeated Lianne Tan of Belgium 21-15 21-17 in the opening round on Wednesday.

In the men's singles, India's challenge ended after both Sameer Verma and HS Prannoy crashed out in the second round.

While Verma lost to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia 19-21 20-22, Prannoy was shown the door by top seed Kento Momota of Japan 14-21 16-21.

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