Samira Zargari, the coach of the Iranian women’s Alpine skiing team, has been banned by her husband from participating in the world skiing championships being held in Italy.
Iran’s squad left for Cortina d’Ampezzo on Wednesday without Zargari who was replaced by another athlete, Marjan Kalhor.
The news was reported by Iran’s pro-reform Shargh daily newspaper and the semi-official Isna news agency reported the story, without providing details.
The country’s ski federation is yet to give any information. However, Iranian law bars married women from obtaining a passport or travel outside of the country without their husband’s permission.
The Alpine world ski championships commenced in the Veneto resort of Cortina earlier this month and ends on 21 February. Four Iranian skiers, including Atefeh Ahmadi, Sadaf Savehshemshaki, Forough Abbasi, and Marjan Kalhor, were to compete in the women’s giant slalom race today.
This is not the first time a married female athlete has been barred from contesting in sports events abroad. In 2015, footballer Niloufar Ardalan was stopped from going to the Asian Games in Malaysia by her husband, Mehdi Tutunchi, a TV sports presenter.
Tutunchi exercised his right to stop his wife from leaving the country, claiming that the games coincided with their son’s first day at school. A couple of months later, a court overturned the ban, allowing Ardalan to travel abroad to compete in other events.
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