The Qatar women’s basketball team were forced to forfeit an Asian Games match yesterday after being told they were not allowed to wear their hijabs.

Before they took to the court to take on Mongolia, match officials asked the players to remove the Islamic headscarves as they had not received any instructions to allow the item of clothing to be worn during the match but the players refused to so, saying it violated their religious beliefs.

“The Qatari players refused to take off the hijab,” Asian Games organising committee spokeswoman Anna Jihyun You said. “At 4:25 pm local time (10 minutes after the scheduled start), the match was declared forfeited and awarded to Mongolia.”

The rules restrict the use of headgear, hair accessories and jewellery, You went on to say, but competitors have been allowed to wear hijabs throughout the Games in sports such as Shooting and Bowling.

“The organising committee is not involved in the rules and the match officials did not have any directions from world body Fiba regarding the same,” You said.

It is still unsure whether Qatar will play against Nepal today, with the team set to continue taking a stand against a discriminatory policy against Muslim women.

“We have to take this stand,” said Ahlam Salem M al-Mana of Qatar. “We are here to push the international association that all Muslim teams are ready to compete in any competition. We knew about the hijab ban but we have to be here. We have to show everyone that we are ready to play but the International Association is not ready.”

Fiba said earlier this month that it was launching a two-year trial phase which would allow players to wear head coverings such as turbans and hijabs but only once a nation had asked for permission.

Earlier this year, two Indian Sikh players were told to remove their turbans during a basketball match in the Asia Cup held in China.

If the new rule was to come into effect, a nation must petition Fiba to allow the players to compete with their heads covered plus submit follow-up reports twice a year.

The rule will be evaluated again in 2015, with a full review held the following year to decide if it will become a permanent rule change after the 2016 Olympics.