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Rights groups hailed the decision as a step forward for Saudi women in their quest for basic rights in a country that severely restricts them in public life.
"It's an important precedent that will create space for women to get rights and it will be hard for Saudi hard-liners to roll back," said Minky Worden of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Qatar announced on Wednesday that one of its female athletes, shooter Bahiya al-Hamad, will be the country's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony in London on July 27.
Saudi Arabia had been giving mixed messages about sending women to the games.
The Saudi Embassy in London said two weeks ago that women who qualify will be allowed to compete. But a report in a Saudi-owned newspaper earlier this week said that no female athletes have qualified for the Olympics and no women will be included on the team competing in equestrian, track and field and weightlifting.
Rogge told the AP last week that he was "cautiously optimistic" the Saudis would include women but he couldn't "guarantee it 100 percent."
[Associated
Press;
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