Iran won't admit Bangladesh Davis Cup player

Bangladesh's tennis officials say they will lodge a complaint against Iran after one of their players was denied a visa for a Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone-III tie, to be held in Tehran April 25-28, Reuters reports.

Bangladesh'’s Dipu Lal was denied a visa for unstated reasons, but local media think Dipu was not granted a visa as his older brother Shibu Lal, also a tennis player, is a U.S. citizen.

Interestingly, the ITF punished Bangladesh in 2010 after an Israeli player was denied a visa for an age-group tournament.  Bangladesh, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel, was fined $2,500 and its right to host two ITF tournaments was cut to one for the visa denial.  "If we can be punished for not granting a visa to an Israeli player, I think Iran also should be penalized for doing the same thing with us," the Bangladesh  Tennis Federation president Shahriar Alam said.