Shirzanan: In the national female athletics league, Leila Rajabi improved the female national records to fifteenth miters and 60 centimeter. She won the league championship among 24 teams.

Shirzanan: “The provincial committees should provide safety measures for women athletes.” Maryam Mirzaie, skater, said, “Unfortunately in some cities they don’t care about the safety of women athletes and that causes many problems.”

Shirzanan: The new practice sessions of Iran women’s national basketball team will start in a week. The federation is trying to hire a foreign head coach for the team.

Shirzanan: In the national female athletics league, Leila Rajabi improved the female national records to fifteenth miters and 60 centimeter. She won the league championship among 24 teams.

Shirzanan: “We will know about the macth between Khoshjamal and Ne,maty” Roshanak Hosseinie said, “Taekwondo federation has made the decision to have a match between the two strongest Iranian women taekwondo players to chose one of them for the Olympics 2008.”

Shirzanan: These competitions will be held in the middle of June.

Shirzanan: The first qualification camp for women’s national climbing team will start in mid June; 10 climbers will be chosen to go to a climbing experience to Himalayas Mountain.

Shirzanan: “ unfortunately the health ministry’s views on women’s swimming pools are not accurate and this will cause worst problems.” Dr. Maryam Samiie told Shirzanan “By law the health ministry has to supervise on swimming pools. And they don’t do a good job in that area.”

Please see on Farsi Version

Part I

&

Part II

Shirzanan: Due to the recent holidays in Iran and the lack of publications, please follow the news booth next week

...... We pass this forbidden zone and get to the main field for the competition. Coaches, referees, champions and athletes are devastated; their faces are grim enough to make them speak their mind as soon as they see us. They complain: “ From early morning like an acuses criminal they are interrogating us.

We got only one day for this year’s national league. And even today we cannot use the stadium after dark. They said they are nit going to turn on the night-lights. And in this situation who is going to be responsible for all these delays they are causing? They knew from last year that we have to continue after dark.”

They said that two of our number one runners give up their race in the first round because of the stress caused by the nerve-breaking environment today. They explained that the security guards were excessively unreasonable today.

Besides these heartbreaking comments from the athletes there are other incidents that make us believe this year’s national track and field league is far behind from any professional athletic league; based on our observations and the explanation of one of the coaches the security refused to let the ambulance inside the stadium “only because the driver of the ambulance was male. Who will be responsible if one of the athletes have a heart attack? If the rule is that men are not allowed in what are all these male security personnel and the landscaping workers doing here?” She, the coach and the Athletics university professor, points out toward a worker wearing a mask and spraying chemicals on the grass and says, “ Look, that worker is wearing a mask himself, but our athletes have to compete around these recently poisoned grass.”

Outside the stadium fathers, and male coaches are waiting for their daughters and students seating under the shade of a tree. We are in the middle of the competitions, but with empty hands there are not much to record; we walk towards the parking lot. A photographer is the one who records the moments, even if she is denied the permission to photograph, she will record the moment with her necked eyes.

The sunset is close, but the sportswomen in the stadium have not give up yet and the races are going on. Today the 100,000 seat stadium is experiencing a day of silence and empty seats.

..... While searching for other sources to confirm this report, the television of the Islamic republic of Iran does not provide us with any answers; they nor deny it, neither they confirm it. In answering Shirzanan’s reporter, one official from Chanal Three says, “ I have not heard anything about this. If an agreement is made, it will be released.”

Another sports journalist says, “ Until very recently the deployment of women’s athletic teams to international events was forbidden, how can you expect to see a television coverage of women’s sports in Iran?”

But of course the women athletes have a different approach than the sports reporters. They believe the TV coverage is any sportswomen’s right and it will help the growth of women’s sports and so there should not be any problems.

Zahra Samyie, a female gymnast, says, “ This will be great event and it can be useful more than we think. Of curse there might be problems about showing a live event in some of women’s sports such as swimming and gymnastics. But displaying Karate, taekwondo, football and… with the Islamic outfits should not create any problem."

Firozeh Mohammadzamani, Iranian female golfer, also thinks that showing female golf competitions will not have any problems, “ Women’s national golf team was among the first women’s athletic teams that got the permission to go overseas, because their outfit was Islamic.”

Despite the many different views on this idea, it seams that showing women’s athletic events from television in Iran will not face unsolvable problems. A television reporter and host says, “ Iranian television has shown women’s sports events in the past; couple of times during the Islamic courtiers competition the IRI TV covered women’s taekwondo matches. So this is not an unexpected proposal to regularly cover women’s sports events and we should not present it as an unlikely idea.”