Vancouver - A court in Canada has reserved judgement in the case of female ski jumpers who are suing to to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics. After five days of hearings, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon said Friday the issues behind the case were "very complex" and that she needed time to consider all the arguments.

Fifteen female ski jumpers took the Vancouver Organizing Committee to court for the right to compete at the Vancouver Games.

Lawyers for the skiers argued that under Canadian gender discrimination law laid out in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms all ski jumpers should be allowed to compete.

If the court rules in their favour the Vancouver committee would have to tell the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow the ski jumpers to compete or cancel the men's ski jumping events.

The Vancouver committee has argued that the February 12-28 Games programme is a matter for the IOC, which has said the women will not be ready for competition until the 2014 winter Games.

The IOC is the Games' regulatory body and as a foreign organization is not obliged to follow the charter, its lawyer argued.(dpa)