FEMALE Indian chess player Soumya Swaminathan said today that she has decided to not participate in an Asian championship being held in Iran next month because she could not comply with an Iranian rule requiring women participants to wear a headscarf.

Swaminathan, a former world junior girls champion, said she found the Iranian law to be in direct violation of her rights and the only way to protest that was to not go to Iran.

The Asian Nations Cup Chess Championship is scheduled to be held in Hamadan, Iran, from July 26 to August 4.