Headgear controversy :International Olympic Committee asked to give guidelines

Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday, indicated that his ministry has written a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to issue guidelines to international federations, in view of some players from India asked to remove their headgear, while participating in a basketball event in China recently.

"Ministry has written to International Olympic Committee to issue guidelines and instructions to all the international federation so that this kind of incident does not happen again.

Indian basketball players were subjected to some racial discrimination when the Sikh members of the team playing in Asia Cup in Wuhan, China, were prevented from wearing turbans.

According to a report, two Sikh players - Amritpal Singh and Amyjot Singh - were asked to remove their turbans before India's match against Japan on July 12. Match officials informed the players that they were breaking international basketball federation (FIBA) rules by wearing turbans.