Foreign Correspondent: April 18

Foreign Correspondent this week reports on the Japanese women pushing for equality in an ancient sport.

Across the world female athletes have been revolutionising sport, pushing for recognition and pay to put them on an equal footing with their male equivalent. In Japan the ancient sport of sumo is wrestling with how to accept women competitors on an equal footing, challenging deeply held customs and traditions.

On Foreign Correspondent this week the ABC’s North Asia correspondent James Oaten meets the women who are leading the charge to modernise attitudes and change the sport they love. The world of sumo can be a secretive one, off limits to outsiders and the media. But James is given a rare opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes in the sumo stable and to understand why there is such strong resistance to change.

8pm Thursday on ABC.