Qatar women's hoops team withdraws Games over hijab ban

Rasa - The Qatari women’s basketball team withdrew from the Asian Games in protest against international rules that ban players from wearing Muslim headscarves in competition.

News ID: 1232

Date: 26 September 2014 - 02:38

RNA - The Qatari women’s basketball team withdrew from the Asian Games in protest against international rules that ban players from wearing Muslim headscarves in competition, AP reported.

The players were reportedly asked to remove the Islamic head scarf before taking on Mongolia but refused and forfeited.

The players claim to have been told that they would be able to wear hijabs during the competition, held in Incheon in South Korea.

Basketball remains one of the exceptions although the sport's world governing body, Fiba, said earlier this month that it had held discussions on the issue and was introducing a two-year testing phase on what players can wear.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) issued a statement on Wednesday, saying: "The right of the athletes must be the highest priority."

FIBA, international basketball’s ruling body, said in a statement Thursday it “regrets that a delegation was sent to the Asian Games with uniforms that do not conform to the official basketball rules.” FIBA added the delegation should have been aware of the rules and how to communicate with officials concerning “uniforms or any other regulatory matter related to the event.”

The Olympic Council of Asia and the Asian Games organizing committee had no immediate comment.

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