American lawmakers bat for turbaned Sikh basketball players
Friday, 05/08/2016
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
WASHINGTON: Top US lawmakers, including an Indian-American Congressman are making a final push to urge the International Basketball Federation to change its policies that discriminates Sikh players over head gear or turbans.
Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley, vice chairman of Democratic Caucus and IndianAmerican Congressman Ami Bera have launched a signature campaign among their Congressional colleagues to write a letter to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) maintaining their support for a change in the policy that requires Sikhs and other players to remove their articles of faith, such as turbans, in international competitions.
FIBA is weeks away from making such a decision. “It is long past time that FIBA ends discrimination against observant Sikhs and allows them to participate.” “Basketball has rapidly become a global sport, popular not only in the United States but in countries like India where many Sikhs proudly participate,” the letter currently under circulation among members of the US House of representatives says.
The letter addressed to the International Basketball Federation chief Horacio Muratori asserts that there is no justification for continuing the ban. Nearly two years ago the federation, after preventing observant Sikhs from participating in international games, announced that it would review its policies and after the 2016 Olympics and make a decision on whether observant Sikh basketball players can participate in future FIBA games.
Sikhs participate in a wide variety of sports around the globe, and there has never been a single instance of someone being harmed or injured by a turban, or of a turban interfering with the sport, said the letter. At both the amateur and professional levels, Sikhs have already played sports without a problem.
This includes Sikh American Dipanjot Singh, who played Division I basketball at the University of Illinois in Chicago in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) before playing semi-professional basketball in several leagues. It also includes Darsh Preet Singh, who played at the NCAA level at the University of Texas.
