Basketball looks to end ban on religious headgear
NEW YORK (AP) - International basketball competitions may soon permit players to wear religious headgear, including hijabs and yarmulkes. Leaders of basketball's governing body, FIBA, have asked a committee to come forward with a proposal for headgear to be worn safely by athletes in competition, with the goal of approving the change at its meeting in May. FIBA announced the move earlier this week.
It comes following a two-year study and not long after an open letter sent to FIBA president Horacio Muratore and signed by a dozen WNBA players including Breanna Stewart, tennis greats Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova and U.S. Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, which called for the end of the rule.