One of India's finest woman chess players, former World Junior Champion, former Commonwealth Champion and Woman Grandmaster Soumya Swaminathan has decided to pull out of the Asian Nations Cup 2018 that will be held in Iran from 24 July to 4 August, 2018. The reason for her withdrawal is that it is compulsory for women players to wear a hijab/headscarf if they are playing in the tournament.
"I feel wearing a headscarf is violative of my human rights. There is no place for such an enforceable rule, especially while playing sports. In sports there is no place for religious or cultural dress codes. I completely respect people who would like to wear a hijab, but how can you enforce it?" asks Soumya, who is clearly upset at missing out on such a huge opportunity to represent her country.
"I am definitely very sad that I missed this opportunity. Especially because these Asian events are qualifying events for the world level tournaments. I felt very sad and dejected and that is the reason why I decided to write about it."
This is not the first time that Soumya has played in Iran. She had also played in 2011 in Iran when she was 22 years old and had then worn a headscarf. "When I played in 2011 that was my first experience as an adult. I learnt something from that experience and the moment I came back home, I made a decision. I knew that at some point there would be an important tournament that will be held in Iran for which I could qualify, and that's when I decided that I won't play there if a rule to wear the headscarf is implemented".
