The club scheduled to hold the 2020 Tokyo Olympics golf events "voted to admit women as full members on Monday, scrapping an all-male policy that had been heavily criticized and put its hosting rights in jeopardy," according to Simon Jennings of REUTERS. The private Kasumigaseki Country Club "took the decision to change its bylaws at an extraordinary board meeting" after being told last month that the IOC would "find another venue if the policy remained unaltered." The Saitama prefecture venue is scheduled to host men's and women's tournaments in '20 but "rules forbidding women from both playing on Sundays or becoming full members had been roundly condemned, leading to Monday's vote." Tokyo Games Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori said, "We are pleased to learn that the Kasumigaseki Country Club voted today ... to amend the club's membership policy in keeping with the spirit of the Olympic Charter. ... I also would like to express my admiration for the club's endeavor to come to an agreement in such a short period of time." Several notable golf clubs have "changed their policies to allow female members in recent years." In '14, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews decided to allow women to join, after Augusta National ended its men-only membership two years earlier. Last week, Muirfield "voted to admit women members" (REUTERS, 3/20). KYODO reported the decision "was made unanimously." Kasumigaseki GM Hiroshi Imaizumi said, "We decided to open the path for women, taking into consideration the trends of the world and thinking about the future regardless of the Olympics." The regulation of the club, which has more than 200 female members, was changed to say that full membership will be granted to "a person who has reached a certain age" from the earlier version that said "a man who has reached a certain age" (KYODO, 3/20). In London, Daniel Hurst reported IOC VP John Coates said, "As we have said all along, gender equality is a fundamental principle of the Olympic Movement and an important part of Olympic Agenda 2020, and we believe this decision now reflects this" (GUARDIAN, 3/20).
