Doaa Elghobashy made her debut at the Copacabana venue for Rio Olympics, as a beach player and she was proud to represent Egypt as part of the nation’s first Olympic beach volleyball team. She never gave that a thought for the hijab that has covered her head and the long sleeves on her arms and legs.

“I have worn the hijab for 10 years,” she said after a 21-12, 21-15 loss to Germany. “It doesn’t keep me away from the things I love to do and beach volleyball is one of them.”

When the Egyptians took the court wearing long pants and sleeves, they were the beneficiaries of uniform regulations that were relaxed by the international volleyball federation before the London Games, so as not to exclude cultures that might be turned off by the standard bikinis and boardshorts.

“It was to open it up culturally,” FIVB spokesman Richard Baker said, as the Egyptians played in their opening match of the Rio Games. “The goal was to allow more people to play the sport of volleyball.”

Egypt had never qualified for either the men’s or women’s beach volleyball tournament at the Olympics. “I’m proud to be seen raising the Egyptian flag in a carnival with so many nations,” Elghobashy said.

By Premji