Saudi women to compete in Olympics for first time

Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it would allow female athletes to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time.

The Saudi Olympic Committee will "oversee participation of women athletes who can qualify", the BBC quoted the statement as saying.

Officials describe the move as a sensitive reform for a country in which women are banned from publicly participating in sports.

Equestrian contestant Dalma Malhas is likely to be the country's only female athlete to qualify for this summer's Games in London which get underway on July 27.

Malhas, born in the United States, won a bronze medal at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics without having been nominated by her country, following an invitation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei are the only three countries never to have sent women athletes to the Olympics.

But Qatar has already announced it will send a three-woman team to London made up of shooter Bahia Al-Hamad, swimmer Nada Wafa Arakji and Noor Al-Malki, a 100m and 200m sprinter.

Brunei, meanwhile, will send a woman to London as part of their two-athlete delegation – 400m hurdler Maziah Mahusin.