Sikhs in Britain fight ban on bearded boxers

LONDON: Sikh groups in Britain have threatened "costly" legal action over an order banning bearded amateur boxers from the
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Muslims expressed outrage after the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) barred 25-year-old bearded boxer Mohammed Patel from the ring last January on health and safety grounds.

At the time the ABAE ruling exempted Sikhs from the ban, further infuriating Muslims, but the body has now ruled that all amateur boxers must be clean-shaven, prompting Sikhs to join in the protest.

"It is unbelievably insensitive and grossly insulting. It is also offensive to our Muslim brothers who wear beards for religious reasons," said Indarjit Singh, director of the Network of Sikh Organisations.

"We request that the ABAE rescind their new ruling. Failure to do so will result in legal action which, as well as being costly, will do untold damage to the public image of the ABAE and boxing in general."

"It's such a petty go at the beard. It's a sport and it has some risks but the hair does not really in any way increase those risks," he added.

The International Boxing Association says referees need to see facial injuries during a fight, that beards can cause further abrasion and that doctors find it easier to treat facial injuries on clean-shaven men.

The ban is also being challenged by Muslims group in the town of Bolton in northwest England, where banned boxer Mohammed Patel comes from.

"Mohammed was actually very upset," said Inayat Omarji of the Bolton Council of Mosques told the BBC.

"It has raised the awareness of different people who have different religious commitments, cultural commitments. And in this day and age, they have to accept and work with the different communities."

An ABAE spokesman said the ruling has come from its international governing body, the International Amateur Boxing Association.

"It has nothing to do with race, only health and safety. Cuts aren't allowed in amateur, Olympic-style, boxing. We are completely different to the professional circuit."

"It's not unusual for a boxer to be told to shave right up until weigh-in time," he added.