Bangladeshi golfer Siddikur skips Myanmar Open over Rohingya crisis

Bangladeshi golfer Siddikur Rahman on Wednesday pulled out of the Leopalace21 Myanmar Open, citing his support for Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled a military crackdown in the mainly Buddhist country. Nearly 690,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine state in late August. Siddikur said he "felt a kind of uneasiness" about playing in the $750,000 Asian Tour tournament, which begins on Thursday in Yangon. "I support the Rohingyas that's why I did not go. It might have sent a wrong message. Being a Muslim I also did not feel safe going there," he told reporters in Dhaka. Siddikur is a golfing icon in Bangladesh and in 2016, became the first Bangladeshi to qualify automatically for the Olympics.