Girls’s sport in Saudi Arabia has been a contentious problem for years on account of restrictions on feminine participation imposed by conservative Islamic authorities. Till 2018, girls weren’t even allowed to attend sporting occasions as spectators, as they have been banned from arenas.
These limitations are slowly however certainly breaking down.
Final yr, the WTA Finals — probably the most prestigious occasion on the tennis calendar outdoors the 4 majors — was held in Riyadh as part of a three-year deal between the WTA and Saudi Tennis Federation.
The occasion was a convincing success.
In accordance to the BBC, the world’s eight finest girls’s gamers “appeared upbeat” concerning the presentation of the occasion and their therapy throughout their keep in Riyadh. It additionally helped that the match provided a document prize cash of $15.25M, with the winner, Coco Gauff, strolling away with $4.8M — the most important paycheck for a WTA occasion in historical past.
Coco Gauff speaks in favor of Saudi Arabia
As she returns to Riyadh to defend her WTA title, Coco Gauff has shared her two cents on Saudi Arabia internet hosting girls’s sports activities.
“I feel sport has the facility to do a whole lot of issues and produce folks collectively,” Gauff told Arab News. “And [last year] I felt just like the vitality was there once I was contained in the stadium, that everybody was having fun with the tennis and coming collectively. Folks from all nationalities attending, some Individuals, Chinese language, everybody coming. I did not count on lots of people to journey for the match, truthfully. So, I used to be fairly impressed to see how many individuals got here and I loved the ambiance.”
As a part of the three-year deal, the 2026 WTA Finals may even be held in Riyadh. Gauff believes Saudi internet hosting the match for 3 consecutive years is useful as a result of it “builds a tradition” and offers girls within the nation an opportunity to fall in love with the game.
Saudi Arabia nonetheless faces opposition
“I undoubtedly assume that for Riyadh, it was good to simply do three years, simply to check the waters and see the way it goes, contemplating that there was by no means a girls’s skilled occasion there,” she added.
Final yr, the American star equally mentioned that “you need to begin little by little” for change to occur, whereas encouraging followers and media members to maintain an open thoughts about touring to Saudi Arabia.
Not everybody shares Gauff’s optimism. Retired legends akin to Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova wrote in a scathing op-ed final yr that they spent years making an attempt to “empower girls in a male-dominated world” solely to be “exploited” by Saudi Arabia.
Tracey Holmes, a professorial fellow on the College of Canberra, accused Saudi Arabia of “sportswashing” itself from numerous human rights violations, citing the nation touchdown offers with the ATP, WTA, WWE, FIA and different sporting organizations.
All that opposition however, Saudi Arabia stays a brand new hub for world sporting occasions. The nation has hosted 5 consecutive F1 Grand Prix races and can host main occasions such because the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, 2027 WWE WrestleMania and the 2034 FIFA World Cup within the subsequent decade. The NextGen ATP Finals may even stay in Jeddah.
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