Goldstein is going for a PSAL Class A title Sunday against Curtis. In Nora Elbassiony’s mind, though, it’ll be more than just a championship for her beloved Dolphins. The senior sharpshooter believes it’ll be a victory for Muslim girls everywhere.
Elbassiony and her two sisters and teammates – Dunia and Lala – are Muslims of Egyptian and Turkish descent. In their religion, she says, just wearing a basketball uniform is considered a sin. Traditionalists would never let their daughters even take the court.
“The old-fashioned people would always say girls aren’t supposed to play sports, they should be home,” Elbassiony said. “So to win that, it would be like a smack in their faces that girls can play sports.”
An Rong Xu
The Elbassiony sisters of Goldstein will try to win a PSAL Class A title Sunday.
Instead of holding back the three sisters, their parents, Sam Elbassiony and Nervin Bekhit, have been incredibly supportive. Sam Elbassiony was a soccer player in his native Egypt, but never made it as far as he wanted because his parents were not happy with his grades. He and his wife have made sure their daughters keep their grades 90 and above to continue playing basketball. Dunia was also a key player on Goldstein’s PSAL Class B championship girls volleyball team.
“His dream was taken away from him,” Nora said. “So we just make sure we have a 90-plus averages so that we can do what we love.”
Added Dunia: “They definitely assimilated and changed their mindsets since they moved to the United States. They know it’s something we love so they support it.”
This is the first year the three sisters have played on the same team. Elbassiony is the team’s 3-point gunner and Dunia is a sophomore forward, who isn’t afraid to do the dirty work inside. Lala, just a freshman, comes off the bench. Nora, the elder of the group who will be the first female in her family to attend college next year, has taken her sisters under her wing.
Dunia was worried how other people would react to three Muslim girls being on a team, but has been pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Nora admits there have been some racial remarks made to her and her sisters after Sept. 11.
“It’s actually exciting in a weird way, originally I was like, oh my God this is going to be bad,” Dunia said. “However it got us a lot closer. We've never been on a set team together, so it’s helped us develop a stronger bond.”
The Elbassionys are hoping to take that bond upstate. They will have to beat a very good Curtis team to do it 3 p.m. Sunday at City College. Next year, Nora will be off to college and though she jokes that their youngest sister, 6-year-old Hana, is going to be the best basketball player of them all, Dunia and Lala will be on their own next year.
“Winning it with my sisters by my side would mean even more,” Dunia said. “It’s our last chance to win a championship game all together.”
mraimondi@nypost.com
Nora Elbassiony, Sam Elbassiony, Muslim girls, Muslim girls, Dunia, Rong XuThe Elbassiony, championship
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