Baku, Azerbaijan, June 17
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian women have been banned from watching the Iran-US volleyball matches in the World League on June 19-20 in Tehran.
No woman will be admitted to attend the Azadi Stadium to watch the volleyball matches, sources close to officials in the Iranian Volleyball Federation told ISNA news agency June 17.
The World League fixtures on June 19 and June 20 are especially notable because they will see Iran take on the United States.
That was while Reza Hassanikhou, director general of security at Iran's sports ministry, said earlier that authorization had been given to the volleyball federation to prepare for the presence of women given special tickets for the stadium.
"Priority will be given to officials, people from the family of volleyball and supporters of the visiting team," he said.
"Any gathering or protest against female admission will be illegal," he added, noting that the general policy on women watching such events was still under review.
However, during a funeral ceremony which was held on June 16 in Tehran for 175 Iranian martyrs, a group of people held placards, protesting the presence of women in male sporting events.
Volleyball's world governing body, the FIVB, has warned it will not let Iran host Word League competitions, if the country bans women to watch the events in stadiums.