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The Iran Kabbadi Federation has lashed out at the one of the coaches of the Thailand team, after he reportedly dressed as a woman and sneaked into the arena to watch female matches at the Asian Kabaddi Championship.
Photos of the coach have been circulated through social media, and it shows him wearing what is a makeshift hijab. In some pictures he wears a black head gear while in other pictures he has a white towel around his head. According to some reports he was asked to leave once before he managed to find a way back in.
The Iranian media have identified the man, who was wearing a Thai sports kit, as the coach of Thailand's team.
The Islamic Republic of Iran bans men and the media from attending female sporting events, where the strict requirements for women to wear headscarves in public are lifted.
A spokesman of the Iranian federation, Abuzar Markalai, told Jam-e Jam, that the Thai coach had to "apologise for his disrespectful gesture towards women".
There were rumours on social media about the coach, which claim that he was instructed to do what he did. This though has been denied by Markalai.
In recent times, there has been a lot of pressure towards lifting restrictions around women and sport in Iran, especially the ban that keeps them away from men’s football matches.
A similar ban on attending volleyball matches was introduced in 2012, though has been increasingly waived over the past year.