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All-Women Games open in Iran

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  • All-Women Games open in Iran

    All-Women Games open in Iran

    By NASSER KARIMI
    .c The Associated Press


    TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - About 600 women from 17 countries will participate
    in the All-Women Games for Muslim and Asian Capitals, and men will be
    barred from watching all but one of the events.

    The only sport that will be open to all spectators is shooting, the
    lone event in which women's bodies will be completely covered. Other
    sports at the weeklong competition - which has drawn athletes from
    countries including Afghanistan, Armenia, Iraq and Thailand - include
    athletics and swimming.

    ``The Islamic Republic of Iran promotes women sports while it
    safeguards cultural values,'' parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad
    Adel said to about 10,000 men and women attending Sunday's opening
    ceremony.

    ``We like to prove to the world women could compete and observe the
    Islamic dress code as well.''

    In the past, Iranian female athletes were restricted from
    participating in sporting events because of their country's strict
    dress code. In public, Iranian women are required to wear baggy
    smocks and head scarves in line with strict Islamic teachings. More
    traditional women cover themselves with chadors, or loose unsewn black
    sheets.

    Iran also bars mixed competition and restricts mingling between
    unrelated males and females in public.

    Iranian women have often participated in international shooting or
    chess competitions, where they can keep their headscarves and
    full-length outfits. Iranian women took part in the shooting events
    at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2000 Sydney Games.

    Conservative clerics have opposed women in sports, but moderates have
    succeeded in promoting the idea, gradually convincing some members of
    the conservative camp to soften their opposition.

    Iran co-organized the Muslim Women Games with other Muslim countries
    in the mid-1990s, and hosted the Third Muslim Women Games in 2001.

    01/23/05 17:48 EST
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