Muslim sports teams want to show they can compete on an international level against global competition. The Qatar women's basketball team did not receive such an opportunity when the Asian Games refused to allow its players to participate wearing their hijabs.
The Qatar team forfeited its first game against Mongolia at the Asian Games in South Korea when officials wouldn't allow the women to wear their Islamic headscarves, a violation of their religious beliefs.
"The Qatari players... refused to take off the hijab," Asian Games Organizing Committee spokeswoman Anna Jihyun You told The Associated Press. "At 4:25 p.m. local time [ten minutes after the scheduled start], the match was declared forfeited and awarded to Mongolia."
The women's team may drop out of the tournament if the ruling isn't overturned. The team arrived expecting "to play with the hijab, that's why we came here," Qatar's chef-de-mission Khalil al-Jabir told The AP. "Nobody told us that it will not be allowed and we are still waiting for clarifications."
The ruling must come from the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Game officials had no directions from the governing body on whether to allow the head dressing or not, according to You.
The FIBA 2014 Official Basketball Rules state that players cannot wear headgear, hair accessories or jewelry. The only approved headwear is "headbands, maximum 5 cm in width, made of non-abrasive, unicolor cloth, pliable plastic or rubber."
The Olympic charter states that any discrimination on the basis of "race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement." The Olympic Council of Asia criticized the Asian Games' ruling and encouraged the event to accept all of its participants, according to Reuters.
"The right of the athletes must be the highest priority," OCA Director General Husain Al-Musallam said in a statement. "Every athlete has the right to represent their country's flag without discrimination or without the threat of financial penalty."
Qatar is scheduled next to play Nepal on Thursday, Sept. 25.
