DOHA: FIBA-Asia, basketball’s governing body in Asia, is trying to solve the uniform controversy impeding the growth of women’s basketball in the continent.

Women’s dress code is a thorny issue for players representing Muslim countries where religious and cultural issues have repeatedly stalled the growth of the women’s game in the region.

However, Sheikh Saud bin Ali Al Thani, who is the president of FIBA-Asia, yesterday said a workable solution would soon
be found.

“Maybe in the future, Inshallah, we can find a solution for it,” Saud, who is also president of Qatar Basketball Federation and vice president of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), said.

Sheikh Saud said the resolution on the use of uniform for women in the Arab world is one of his main agendas so that the region could become equally competitive with teams from Europe and the Americas.

He said women in Asia including Lebanon, Syria and Iran have now excelled in many competitions after being been persuaded to comply with FIBA-Asia uniform standards.

For the time being, Sheikh Saud said, he will continue improving the level of competitiveness of women basketball teams in the Middle East with an inter-GCC tournament to be participated by Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and UAE.

Sheikh Saud landed the job of the president after beating his rival from Hong Kong in the recently-held FIBA-Asia Congress meeting. Sheikh bagged 26 out of the 44 votes. “It was not easy to get this. This is the first time that all 44 member countries of FIBA-Asia came to attend the Congress.” The Peninsula