Saudi women are set to take part in next year's second GCC Women's Games in the United Arab Emirates in March 2010. “We refused to hold the event without seeing the Saudi flag raised alongside the others, so we decided to include show jumping events to allow Saudi women to compete,” said Ahlam Al-Maane', head of the Women's Sports Committee and member of the GCC Executive Council for Women's Sport. Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries that does not allow women athletes to take part in the Olympics, or any other major sporting event. There is no federation that organizes women's sport and few stadia that are open to them. However, things are changing. Makkah Emir Prince Khaled Al-Faisal said recently that he hoped government-run girls' schools, where a ban remains on physical education classes, would allow playing fields. Of late, Some Saudi women have quietly been forming soccer, basketball, volleyball and other teams throughout the Kingdom. Jeddah United, a pioneering women's basketball team, is one such break from the norm. The GCC bi-annual event was first held in Kuwait with competitors from the Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar as well as the host nation taking part in athletics, basketball, table tennis, javelin and taikwondo. Athletics events were also held for the disabled.
