The Incident of the Head Coach and Women's Kabaddi Matches in Golestan

Images of the male head coach of the Thai women's national kabaddi team have surfaced from the Asian Kabaddi Championship hosted in Golestan, showing him wearing a hijab in the hall. These photos quickly spread across official media and social networks, accompanied by extensive commentary from journalists and users on Twitter and Instagram, filled with astonishment, humor, and criticism. Numerous drawings and cartoons regarding this incident have been published on social media. The Iranian Kabaddi Federation condemned what it called the 'inappropriate' action of the Thai coach and issued an apology to the Iranian sports community in a statement. The president of the Kabaddi Federation told ISNA that 'a photographer gave that Thai man a hijab to enter the hall and wear it for a photo. This was a prank intended to undermine the games.' The federation's public relations officer emphasized in a live connection with state television that this incident lasted only a few seconds before the coach was escorted out of the hall. However, the program host, Rashidpour, stated that different images were recorded, indicating it was not just a few seconds. The public relations officer did not provide a clear answer to this ambiguity. The president of the Kabaddi Federation mentioned that they had previously issued a directive regarding the presence of foreign male coaches on the sidelines, stating that even female coaches and supervisors were instructed not to accompany the team to Iran. While the Iranian Kabaddi Federation prevented the presence of a foreign male coach in the hall, just last week, the Italian women's futsal team faced the Iranian national team in Tehran with a male head coach. Several women's sports teams in Iran also utilize male coaches on their national benches, including the national volleyball team led by Mostafa Shojaei. In 2015, Ali Sanaei also sat on the bench of the women's national futsal team during the Asian Championship.