Flying Singh Milkha Singh, spinner Bishan Singh Bedi, singer Honey Singh and actress-turned-politician Gul Panag are among the celebrities who have put their names to an online petition to protest the International Basketball Federation’s (FIBA) refusal to allow Sikh players from playing in international fixtures because of their turbans.
The petition – circulated online on Change.org – has already drawn over 40,000 signatures in the run-up to the August 27 meeting of FIBA in Spain where the Federation is expected to re-examine the rules that bar a player from sporting a headgear during a game.
As per Article 4.4.2 of FIBA’s official rules, “players shall not wear equipment (objects) that may cause injury to other players’’. Over the past month, there have been two tournaments in which Sikh players were singled out for “discriminatory treatment’’ because of their turban. The first was during the Asia Cup Championship in China last month, and then again this week at the Asia U-18 Championship in Doha where Sikh players wearing a turban were told to remove it.
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Apart from signing the petition, Bishen Singh Bedi and Honey Singh have posted videos urging people to join the campaign ``to let sports be independent of discrimination on faith’’.