GOLF: Japan golf club eyes changing 'sexist' policy

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

A Japanese country club set to host the 2020 Olympic golf competition said on Wednesday it would consider changing a policy not to admit women as full members after Tokyo’s female governor slammed the rule.

Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, north of Tokyo, came under fire last week as Yuriko Koike said she felt “very uncomfortable that women cannot become full members in the 21st century”. “It should be a venue open to everyone,” the capital’s top official told reporters on Friday.

This week, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying that the International Olympic Committee had serious concerns, and was in contact with the International Golf Federation (IGF) over the issue.

On Wednesday, the club’s general manager, Hiroshi Imaizumi, said there would be a discussion about changing the longstanding policy if either international body requested it.”