Iranian women snooker players banned for violating Islamic code

TEHRAN: Iran has banned some of its women players from billiard sports competitions for a year for violating the Islamic codes of conduct at a tournament in China, sporting authorities announced.

The Disciplinary Committee of Bowling, Billiard and Boxing Federation did not reveal the nature of the alleged offenses, saying it would name the transgressors later.

“Women sent to China Open (billiard) competitions will be banned from all domestic and foreign competitions for one year for violating the Islamic code,” it said late Thursday, according to the ISNA and Tasnim news agencies.

The category of billiard sports includes billiards, pool and snooker. Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has required women to wear the Islamic headscarf in public. The Islamic code also forbids women touching, dancing or singing with men



outside their families.

Women are only allowed to show their face, hands and feet in public and are supposed to wear only modest colors.

Over the years, however, women have pushed back the boundaries of the law, with many wearing loose, brightly colored headscarves far back on their heads.

T-shirts and jeans are banned for women attending billiard sport competitions, according to the website of the Iranian federation, which could not immediately be reached for comment.

Most pool-billiard clubs in Iran are male only but some offer women-only hours.

Top Iranian female players now regularly compete in national and international games. In October, Akram Mohammadi became the first Iranian woman ever to win a medal in a major billiard competition, taking bronze at the Asian championships in the UAE.